Del Bueno, of Grandview, Wash., which processes a variety of cheeses and distributes them to specialty grocery stores and restaurants, and owner Jesus Rodriguez, agreed to terms of the consent decree entered by U.S. District Judge Lonny R. Suko of the Eastern District of Washington, on April 3.

Under the consent decree, Del Bueno cannot process or distribute food until it demonstrates that it has developed a control program to eliminate Listeria monocytogenes from its production facility and products. Listeria is a foodborne pathogen that can cause serious illness and death.

Del Bueno must, among other actions, hire an independent laboratory to collect and analyze samples for the presence of Listeria, retain an independent sanitation expert, develop a program to control Listeria for all employees in both English and Spanish, and destroy all food items currently in the facility. Once the company is permitted to resume operations, the FDA may still require the company to recall products or cease production if future violations occur.

“When a company continues to produce food that presents a risk for consumers, the FDA will take action,” said Dara A. Corrigan, the FDA’s associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. “We will not hesitate to protect the public’s health.”

FDA and Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) inspections since 2009 have documented numerous deficiencies in Del Bueno’s processing facility. In addition, FDA laboratory testing since 2010 also found Listeria monocytogenes in Del Bueno’s finished cheese products and in the Del Bueno facility. Both the FDA and the WSDA repeatedly advised Del Bueno and its owner of the unsanitary conditions at the facility.

Listeriosis, the illness caused by Listeria monocytogenes, can be serious and sometimes can cause fatal infections in young children, frail or older people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may experience only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, Listeria infection in pregnant women can cause miscarriage and stillbirth.

In 2010, Del Bueno cheese was linked to a case of listeriosis in Washington state. Although no illnesses have been reported in 2012 from Del Bueno products, individuals who have eaten these products and experience any of the symptoms of listeriosis listed above should contact their health care professional. Consumers can report problems with FDA-regulated products to their district office consumer complaint coordinator.

For more information:

• Warning letter to Del Bueno, April 1, 2011

• Del Bueno recalls cheese, November 17, 2010

• Del Bueno recalls queso fresco casero, September 16, 2010

• Del Bueno recalls queso fresco, April 6, 2010

The product is manufactured by El Ranchero del Sur.  The company has pledged to conduct a voluntary recall through the FDA and is contacting its customers to arrange for the retrieval of all of their cheese products. El Ranchero del Sur cheese products can be found primarily in Mexican and Latin American grocery stores, restaurants, and other hispanic food establishments under the name brands El Ranchero, Los Corrales, and Carnes Don Beto with the plant number 34-0013669 marked on the label. All products are 14 ounces in weight except for the Queso Hebra Oaxaca String Cheese ball in 10 pound packages.

This is not the first time listeria has been associated with queso fresco.  According to Outbreak Database, in 1985, a massive outbreak of listeriosis caused 142 confirmed illnesses, including 28 deaths.

Adults can get listeriosis by eating food contaminated with Listeria, but babies can be born with listeriosis if their mothers eat contaminated food during pregnancy. The mode of transmission of Listeria to the fetus is either transplacental via the maternal blood stream or ascending from a colonized genital tract (Silver, 1998). Infections during pregnancy can cause premature delivery, miscarriage, stillbirth, or serious health problems for the newborn. Although healthy persons may consume contaminated foods without becoming ill, those at increased risk for infection can probably get listeriosis after eating food contaminated with even a few bacteria.

The Listeria outbreak shows that government oversight of food safety has a long way to go.

The Colorado Listeria outbreak that killed 30 people and sickened dozens sounded a red alert on the nation’s food safety system.

“It’s changed everyone’s lives in my family ,” said Jennifer Exley, whose father was made critically ill from eating tainted cantaloupe.

84-year-old Herb Stevens of Littleton is now permanently disabled and requires numerous medications.

“We are very bitter about somebody just simply eating a cantaloupe,” said Exley, “And then getting so sick that they’re hospitalized or in a nursing home for almost two months.”

The FDA was supposed to have more authority to enforce tougher food safety standards beginning in January, but the agency still struggles against congressional budget cuts.

“They were supposed to get $1.5 billion … instead they got $39 million,” said Danny Katz, executive director of the Colorado Public Interest Research Group.

Consumer groups and the FDA itself say they simply don’t have enough manpower to inspect some 300,000 processing plants and farms to improve safety.

“It’s unconscionable that we are not prioritizing the preventative pieces,” said Katz.

The FDA is requesting an additional $220 million in next year’s budget–to be paid for by food processors and handlers–and to write new guidelines for each food category.

“It took deaths to bring about that change,” said Dr. Sheryl Zajdowicz, a Metropolitan State College microbiology professor and food pathogen expert, “And unfortunately that’s the sad truth and so while this is certainly a devastation it will result in changes.”

But the changes can’t be enforced unless they can get more FDA inspectors into places like Jensen Farms.

“Which is to prioritize prevention and not reacting to these foodborne illnesses; unfortunately they just don’t have the funding,” said Katz.

“You expect the food sources to be safe and they aren’t safe,” said Jennifer Exley.

Exley’s mother and father are suing Jensen Farms and the private company that gave Jensen Farms a passing inspection report.

Many say those private inspectors and their cozy relationships with food processors are a major part of the food safety problem.

A recent report to Congress blasted those relationships and concluded more must be done to address the issue.

Reuters reported today on addtional medical research from France that demonstrated, among other things, that Leukemia patients are at the greatest risk for listeria infection.   The study involved roughly  2,000 cases of listeriosis in France between 2001 and 2008.  Among the findings:

• More than 400 of the 2,000 people who developed listeriosis died.
• None of the cases involved an outbreak.
• About one in six of the listeriosis cases in France affected pregnant women.
• Among the remaining cases, 65 percent of the people involved had an underlying health condition, and 41 percent were undergoing treatment that suppressed their immune systems.
• People with chronic lymphocytic leukemia were at the greatest risk of developing listeriosis -- more than 1,000 times higher than the general French population.

The company and FDA filed what is called a "consent decree" in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois that included the agreement to stop production.

ACcording to the FDA:  "The terms of the decree would also require Triple A to hire a sanitation expert to help establish an effective sanitation program, to comply with FDA regulations and to eliminate Listeria contamination from company facilities." 

The FDA further stated that Triple A had a "history of operating under unsanitary conditions and Listeria monocytogenes contamination in the processing facility.  FDA took these aggressive actions because Triple A Services continued to violate current good manufacturing practice regulations and allow for conditions that could affect the health of consumers,” said Dara Corrigan, the FDA’s associate commissioner for regulatory affairs.

The FDA had issued warning letters to Triple A in April of this year, and in November  2002. The November, 2002 letter described unsanitary conditions; the presence of "bird/insect fecal matter;" and structural defects among other findings.

Michael Booth and the Denver Post should get the Pulitzer for their extensive coverage of the Colorado homegrown Listeria outbreak that is now the most deadly in U.S. recent history. But, they more deserve our thanks for telling the story of an amazing family – that is too much like yours and mine – to let you forget this outbreak. Here is the full story - Listeria outbreak traced to Colorado leaves damaged survivors in its wake:

Alabama (1), Arkansas (1), California (2), Colorado (39), Idaho (2), Illinois (3), Indiana (3), Iowa (1), Kansas (10), Louisiana (2), Maryland (1), Missouri (6), Montana (1), Nebraska (6), Nevada (1), New Mexico (15), New York (2), North Dakota (2), Oklahoma (11), Oregon (1), Pennsylvania (1), South Dakota (1), Texas (18), Utah (1), Virginia (1), West Virginia (1), Wisconsin (2), and Wyoming (4).

Twenty-nine deaths have been reported:

Colorado (8), Indiana (1), Kansas (3), Louisiana (2), Maryland (1), Missouri (2), Nebraska (1), New Mexico (5), New York (2), Oklahoma (1), Texas (2), and Wyoming (1).

Among persons who died, ages range from 48 to 96 years, with a median age of 81 years. In addition, one woman pregnant at the time of illness had a miscarriage.

1.  Jensen Farms Frontera Listeria Outbreak

•          September 2011 - ONGOING

•          Vehicle: whole cantaloupe

•          Number ill: 139

•          Deaths: 29 (30, county miscarriages)

2.  Jalisco's Listeria Outbreak

•          January 1985

•          Vehicle: cheese

•          Number ill: 142

•          Deaths: 28 (48, counting miscarriages)

As of November 1, 2011, a total of 139 persons infected with any of the four outbreak-associated strains of Listeria monocytogenes have been reported to CDC from 28 states.  The number of infected persons identified in each state is as follows: Alabama (1), Arkansas (1), California (2), Colorado (39), Idaho (2), Illinois (3), Indiana (3), Iowa (1), Kansas (10), Louisiana (2), Maryland (1), Missouri (6), Montana (1), Nebraska (6), Nevada (1), New Mexico (15), New York (2), North Dakota (2), Oklahoma (11), Oregon (1), Pennsylvania (1), South Dakota (1), Texas (18), Utah (1), Virginia (1), West Virginia (1), Wisconsin (2), and Wyoming (4).

Twenty-nine deaths have been reported: Colorado (8), Indiana (1), Kansas (3), Louisiana (2), Maryland (1), Missouri (2), Nebraska (1), New Mexico (5), New York (2), Oklahoma (1), Texas (2), and Wyoming (1). Among persons who died, ages range from 48 to 96 years, with a median age of 81 years. In addition, one woman pregnant at the time of illness had a miscarriage.

According to complaint #DC11-13866 filed in Dallas County District Court, 89-year-old Marie Jones regularly purchased and consumed cantaloupe in the weeks prior to her illness. By the weekend of September 10, Ms. Jones developed signs of a Listeria infection, including a severe headache and gastrointestinal symptoms, which worsened over the ensuing days. Late on September 12, she was admitted to Baylor University Medical Center and transferred to the intensive care unit where it was determined that her illness was caused by a Listeria infection and was affecting her entire body. Over the next ten days Ms. Jones’ condition worsened until she ultimately succumbed to her illness on September 23. The complaint further states that the Dallas County Health Department confirmed the strain that caused Ms. Jones’ Listeria illness was the same as the one implicated in the multi-state Listeria outbreak linked to the defendants’ products.

“In this day and age, people should not be hospitalized or die because of something they ate,” said Marler Clark Listeria lawyer William Marler. “Food producers and distributors have a responsibility to consumers to sell food that is unadulterated and free of foodborne pathogens such as Listeria – no exceptions.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have confirmed 133 illnesses and 28 deaths in a multi-state Listeria outbreak that has been linked to Colorado-based Jensen Farms. In September, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) used trace back investigations to link the farm to the outbreak, and on October 19 the connection was confirmed when the FDA released a report detailing unsanitary conditions and traces of Listeria at Jensen Farms’ cantaloupe packing facility.

MARLER CLARK is the nation’s leading law firm dedicated to representing victims of foodborne illness. The firm’s food poisoning lawyers have unmatched experience and have recovered over $600,000,000 for their clients, including a 2011 $1.1 million Listeria judgment on behalf of the family of Texas man. For more information or, if you are a member of the media and would like a copy of the complaint, please contact Cody Moore at cmoore@marlerclark.com or 206-407-2200.

[1] Colorado El Paso County District Court # 2011CV5007; Colorado Arapahoe County District Court # 2011CV1891; Texas Brazoria County District Court #65009; Canadian County District Court #CJ-2011-709; U.S. District Court Maryland #1:11-CV-2810; Federal District Court Oklahoma #11-348SPS; Missouri District Court #4:11-cv-04280-FJG.

1.  Jalisco's Listeria Outbreak

•          January 1985

•          Vehicle: cheese

•          Number ill: 142

•          Deaths: 29

2.  Jensen Farms Frontera Listeria Outbreak

•          September 2011 - ONGOING

•          Vehicle: whole cantaloupe

•          Number ill: 133

•          Deaths: 28

3.  Bil Mar Foods Ready-to-eat Meats Listeria Outbreak

•          January 1998

•          Vehicle: deli and cured meats

•          Number ill: 101

•          Deaths: 21

4.  Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) Salmonella Outbreak

•          September 2008

•          Vehicle:  Peanuts and peanut butter

•          Number ill: 716

•          Deaths: 9

5.  Pilgrim's Pride Listeria Outbreak

•          July 2002

•          Vehicle: deli meats

•          Number ill: 54

•          Deaths: 8

Fair Oaks Dairy Products LLC is recalling about 20 pounds of Fair Oaks Royal Blue Cheese sold to consumers in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. The company said the recall was ordered after its own testing detected listeria.

A total of six listeriosis cases in Missouri have been confirmed by the CDC as linked to the recalled cantaloupe. The latest case is the second to occur in the Southwest District. The individual, age 84, died. According local medical officials, the immediate cause of death was sepsis with listeriosis as a contributing factor.

The other cases include three in the Northwest District, one in the Eastern and two in the Southwest District. All six cases were hospitalized. On September 21, DHSS reported one individual, age 94, died. According to local medical officials, the immediate cause of death of the 94-year-old person was not the listeriosis infection.

According to Montgomery County Health Department, an elderly woman from the Collegeville area became ill early last month. She was hospitalized and has since recovered, but cantaloupe recovered from her property tested negative for listeria. Currently, 123 cases of listeria infections have been reported in 26 states. Listeria infections are most susceptible in children and the elderly. Symptoms, which typically last between seven and 10 days, include fever, headache, muscle aches, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. It is triggered by a bacterial infection and afflicts individuals more often with a deficient immune system. Collegeville’s is the state’s first case linked to the outbreak from a Granada, Colo. cantaloupe farm. The fruit in question is sold under the name Rocky Ford cantaloupes and consumers are advised to steer clear of them. Public health officials have continued to collaborate with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in determining the extent of the distribution of the contaminated products.

Health Department spokeswoman Kim Deti said Wednesday that an elderly man in Lincoln County has been diagnosed recently as Wyoming's fourth recent case of listeriosis.

A Sheridan woman has died and a man and woman from Laramie County have been sickened by the disease in recent weeks. Deti says the Lincoln County man is still alive and authorities are looking into how he contracted the disease.

The Genesee County Public Health Department says the death of the unidentified woman with underlying health conditions was connected to the cantaloupes.

The Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester reports that the woman died several weeks ago. The woman had been hospitalized, but was not initially diagnosed with listeriosis.

• Twenty-five deaths have been reported: 6 in Colorado, 1 in Indiana, 2 in Kansas, 2 in Louisiana, 1 in Maryland, 1 in Missouri, 1 in Nebraska, 5 in New Mexico, 2 in New York, 1 in Oklahoma, 2 in Texas, and 1 in Wyoming. Among persons who died, ages range from 48 to 96 years, with a median age of 87 years. In addition, one woman pregnant at the time of illness had a miscarriage.

• CDC recommends that consumers not eat whole or pre-cut Rocky Ford-brand cantaloupe from Jensen Farms. This is especially important for older adults, persons with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women.

• Even if some of the cantaloupe has been eaten without becoming ill, dispose of the rest of the cantaloupe immediately. Listeria bacteria can grow in the cantaloupe at room and refrigerator temperatures.

• Cantaloupes that are known to NOT have come from Jensen Farms are safe to eat. If consumers are uncertain about the source of a cantaloupe for purchase, they should ask the grocery store. A cantaloupe purchased from an unknown source should be discarded: "when in doubt, throw it out."

State Health Department Epidemiologist Lon Kightlinger tells the Argus Leader that the woman who got sick is in her 60s and is hospitalized. He says officials have not been able to determine whether she ate cantaloupe before becoming ill.

Federal officials say an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe is now linked to 116 illnesses and 23 deaths nationwide, making it the deadliest known outbreak of foodborne illness in the U.S. in a quarter century.

The tainted cantaloupe should be off store shelves by now. At least one South Dakota retailer sold cantaloupe from the Colorado farm linked to the listeria outbreak, but the melons were taken off store shelves Sept. 12.

Last week, the DHH lab linked the death of an 81-year-old Shreveport area woman. Epidemiologists determined the listeria she had is the same strain that was found in the recalled cantaloupes produced by Jensen Farms.