NO ILLNESSES HAVE BEEN REPORTED

I really think I need to see my doctor about my blood pressure. It rises every time I read a food company recall with that sentence "No illnesses have been reported" particularly when Listeria bacteria are suspected. I wish that the government food safety agencies would insist that the sentence be following by something like: "However, symptoms of Listeriosis may appear as late as a month after eating contaminated food."

In fact, appearance of symptoms can range from a few days to 70 days, and occasionally even longer. Or, you may have Listeriosis but not really feel sick at all. So what should you be on the lookout for?

If you are a relatively healthy adult, who is not pregnant, you may come down with fever, nausea, stiff neck, weakness, diarrhea and muscle aches. You may not have all these symptoms and you could dismiss it a case of the flu. In fact symptoms of a Listeria infection can be so mild that you won't notice them at all. That is the case if you are pregnant. Sadly, the baby may die before birth or come down with a life-threatening infection soon after birth. The symptoms in a newborn may be quite mild too and easily confused with some other problem. Perhaps nothing more than a little irritability, fever, little interest in feeding and some vomiting.

While most Listeria infections in adults tend to be very mild, they can get serious for older people or those with a weakened immune system, leading to complications such as septicemia or meningitis. So do be careful, particularly if you are in a high risk group. Right now, you should be checking any cheeses in your refrigerator against those that are being recalled (press the Recall link on this blog).

TSF

LISTERIA RISK IN NUMEROUS CHEESE PRODUCTS

Well, here we go again. In the U.S. we are seeing recalls of all kinds of cheeses and products made with cheese. Large, snowballing recalls of contaminated cheese have occurred on a pretty regular basis over the years. The usual culprit is that nasty little bacterium, Listeria monocytogenes, that I mentioned in connection with Ruth’s spreads a couple of blogs ago.

I am sure we have not reached the end of this particular wave of cheese and related product recalls yet. Cheese is a food product commonly used in a number of snacking and cooking products and in prepared foods of all kinds.

Here are a few of the companies issuing recalls “out of an abundance of caution” as some of them so self-righteously note (I hate that phrase). Deutsch Kase Haus, LLC of Middlebury, Ind. Is recalling its Colby cheeses that it supplied to a number of other companies. Sargento Cheese Company is recalling select Sargento branded cheeses (which it apparently got from Deutsche Kase Haus). Guggisberg Cheese Inc. is recalling various types of Colby type cheeses. Meijer is announcing a recall of its Meijer Brand Colby Cheese and Colby Jack Cheese, sold at deli counters.

And then there are companies such as MDS Foods Inc., of Massillon, Ohio, which is recalling multiple products because it unfortunately got the Colby cheeses it used in them from Deutsch Kase Haus and Choice Farms LLC which is conducting a small recall of stuffed mushrooms.

Press on the recall button on this blog and you will get more recalls. New ones are coming out all the time.

Yes, you may have kept these foods you bought in the refrigerator. Unfortunately, that won’t do you much good. Listeria can grow and multiply at those cold temperatures.

And if you are older, or have a weakened immune system, you are more vulnerable - along with young children and pregnant women (who may suffer miscarriages or stillbirths).

TSF

ANOTHER "CEDAR" CHEESE RECALL

Green Cedar Dairy of Dearborn, Michigan, has now announced the recall of their All Natural Ackawi Cheese and All Natural Chives Cheese with a sell by date up to July 1, 2012. The reason: they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria and at least two illnesses have been linked to eating these cheeses.

The products were distributed to bakeries and retail stores in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties of Michigan. In other words, a relatively small geographic area.

What puzzles me is that both this cheese and the Canadian cheese recall I blogged yesterday (see previous post) do not only have Listeriosis risk in common - which is nothing unusual - but also something else. They both have "cedar" in the name and a green cedar tree on the label. The trees look somewhat different (the Canadian cheese package has a more artistic cedar tree) but there they are. What an odd coincidence.

Ah - the mysteries of our food supply.

To your good health,

TSF