Listeria Blog - Surveillance & analysis on Listeria news & outbreaks

A Washington state cheese processor and distributor has agreed to keep its products off the market until they are proven safe for consumption as part of a consent decree of permanent injunction with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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 Listeria contamination traced to a Colorado cantaloupe farm was the worst foodborne illness outbreak in nearly a century, and yet the Food and Drug Administration is still struggling to get a handle on how to prevent another outbreak while Congress keeps cutting the agency’s funding.

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.

The recent outbreak of listeria caused by Jensen Farms/Frontera cantaloupes was the most recent reminder that Listeria poses the greatest risk to certain groups of people.  The most deadly foodborne illness outbreak in U.S. history sickened 146 and has now killed 31 people.   According to the CDC, the average age of vicitms was 77 years.  The average age of those who died was even higher - demonstrating the increased risk that those of advanced age face.

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 Schwarz's family is mourning the loss of a 92-year-old local man affected by cantaloupe tainted with listeria.  Paul Schwarz's family said he passed away over the weekend.

He was very active until the cantaloupe recall  when he suffered brain trauma from the bacteria. The strain killed more than two dozen people and sickened more than 130 others.  Schwarz's family has filed a lawsuit against Jensen Farms, where the tainted cantaloupe came from.

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.