Soft ripened cheese sold at retail outlets including Aldi and Market Basket are being recalled due to what the federal government says is a possible listeria contamination stemming from equipment used to produce the dairy product at an Illinois facility.
The Food and Drug Administration posted a notice on Friday announcing the recall of products made by Savencia Cheese USA, the Pennsylvania-based manufacturer.
The company said that investigators detected traces of listeria, a deadly bacteria, in equipment used to make cheese at its Lena, Ill. facility.
Several products including Emporium Selection Brie, La Bonne Vie Brie, La Bonne Vie Camembert and Market Basket Brie are at risk of listeria contamination, according to the FDA notice.
Aldi posted its own notice announcing the recall. The retailer said that the impacted products had a “best by” date of Dec. 24.
The company said that the recall was being done “out of an abundance of caution.”
“Aldi puts the safety and integrity of the products it sells first.
The agency also issued a separate recall of turkey sandwiches that contained recalled cheese also made by Savencia Cheese USA.
The FDA said that CIBUS Fresh, a Noblesville, Ind.-based company, is recalling CF/ Autumn Turkey Sandwiches, J&O Autumn Turkey Sandwich and S&S Autumn Turkey Sandwich.
The recall stems from possible listeria contamination of Glenview Farms Spreadable Brie, which is used in the sandwiches.
The affected products were pulled from shelves in retailers in six states — Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee.
The recalls are the latest incidents that have raised doubts about food safety among American consumers in recent weeks.
Last month, McDonald’s temporarily ceased the sale of its Quarter Pounder sandwiches in thousands of its restaurants across 10 states after regulators said that onions used in the burgers were the source of E. coli contamination.
At least 75 people have fallen ill due to E. coli contamination — 22 of those needing hospitalization.
At around the same time, an Oklahoma-based meat packer, BrucePac, recalled nearly 10 million pounds of ready-to-eat beef and poultry items due to concerns they were contaminated with listeria.
Boar’s Head, the maker of cold cut deli meats, shut down a massive plant in Virginia that was determined to be the source of a listeria outbreak that impacted millions of pounds of products that were pulled from stores.
At least 10 deaths have been reported in Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico and South Carolina.
The outbreak led to 59 people being hospitalized across 19 states.
