Cheese Recall: Check Your Fridge for These Potentially Contaminated Products
Some soft cheeses sold at Whole Foods, Safeway and others may have been contaminated with a strain of listeria.
- Added coconut oil to cheap coffee before keto made it cool.
Calling all soft cheese eaters:
Check your fridge. Old Europe Cheese, a company in Michigan, issued a voluntary recall on Sept. 30 that includes all of its brie and camembert cheeses sold in August through Sept. 28, with best by dates through Dec. 14. The recall was expanded earlier this month to more baked brie cheeses by different brands, and Swiss American recalled its St. Louis Brie products in response.
Fruit and cheese plates under the Caribou Coffee brand have also been recalled because of a supplier recall, though it only affects Caribou Coffee locations at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, according to the announcement.
The recalled cheeses have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes -- a single strain that's been linked to six illnesses from 2017 to 2022. During those same five years, the CDC has investigated in the US more than a dozen other listeria outbreaks, including ones linked to cheeses, ice cream, lettuce, deli meats, mushrooms and hard-boiled eggs.
A variety of brands are affected by the new recall, including Reny Picot, Joan of Arc, Block and Barrel and more. The brie and camembert cheeses were sold at stores nationwide and in Mexico, including at Albertsons, Safeway, Meijer, Harding's, Shaw's, Price Chopper, Market Basket, Raley's, Save Mart, Giant Foods, Stop & Shop, Fresh Thyme, Lidl, Sprouts, Athenian Foods, Whole Foods and possibly more.
Here's a list of brands that were included in the recall, which was also posted to the US Food and Drug Administration's website:
- St. Louis Brie
- Black Bear
- Block and Barrel
- Charmant
- Caribou Coffee (some fruit and cheese plates)
- Cobblestone
- Culinary Tour
- Fredericks
- Fresh Thyme
- Glenview Farms
- Good and Gather
- Heinen
- Joan of Arc
- La Bonne Vie
- Lidl
- Life in Provence
- Market 32
- Matrie 'D
- Metropolitan
- Prestige
- Primo Taglio
- Red Apple
- Reny Picot
- St Randeaux
- Taste of Inspiration
- Trader Joe's
For specific product details on what's being pulled by the brand, check the first recall post from Old Europe, the second recall from the company and the recall from Swiss American. Some recalled cheeses may have also been repackaged into smaller containers, without the label. If you have this type of cheese at home and are concerned, check in with the retailer or deli you bought it from.
Per Old Europe's announcement, the recall is in response to a listeria finding at one of its facilities, though none of the products tested positive. The strain found has been linked to an outbreak that's caused at least six cases of listeriosis from 2017 to 2022, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Old Europe cheeses haven't been previously linked to an outbreak. The company says the potential source of contamination has been identified and Old Europe is taking "active measures" to eliminate it.
Most people who are infected with listeria will experience short-term symptoms including high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. But others, including people who are pregnant or have weakened immune systems, may experience more serious illness or health effects, which can sometimes be fatal.
It might be that listeriosis is usually detected in people with more severe illness, since many people who eat contaminated food won't require hospitalization or further testing. For this reason, official infections are likely undercounts. There are a few listeriosis outbreaks identified in most years, according to the CDC.