Kansas City-based cheese company Paris Brothers, Inc. is issuing a voluntary recall of several cheese products after it was discovered that they could be contaminated by Listeria monocytogenes.
The Food and Drug Administration states that the recall affects cheeses produced on May 4, 5, and 6 and contains the lot codes of 05042022, 05052022, or 05062022.
According to the FDA, the recall affects the following products: Cottonwood River Cheddar, D’amir Brie Double Crème French Brie, Milton Prairie Breeze White Cheddar Style, Milton Tomato Garlic Cheddar, Paris Brothers Mild Cheddar, Paris Brothers Colby Jack, Paris Brothers Pepper Jack and Cervasi Pecorino Romano.
The products were distributed in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, as well as one store in Mississippi and one in Florida.
Listeria can “cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems,” according to the FDA.
Healthy individuals can experience a severe headache, high fever, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea as a result of the infection.
According to the FDA, no illnesses have been reported.
Individuals who purchased the affected product can return it to the store where it was bought for a refund.
Kansas City-based cheese company Paris Brothers, Inc. is issuing a voluntary recall of several cheese products after it was discovered that they could be contaminated by Listeria monocytogenes.
The Food and Drug Administration states that the recall affects cheeses produced on May 4, 5, and 6 and contains the lot codes of 05042022, 05052022, or 05062022.
According to the FDA, the recall affects the following products.
Cottonwood River Cheddar
D’amir Brie Double Crème French Brie
Milton Prairie Breeze White Cheddar Style
Milton Tomato Garlic Cheddar
Paris Brothers Mild Cheddar
Paris Brothers Colby Jack
Paris Brothers Pepper Jack
Cervasi Pecorino Romano
The products were distributed in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, as well as one store in Mississippi and one in Florida.
HYUNDAI RECALLS 239K VEHICLES DUE TO EXPLODING SEAT BELT COMPONENT
Kansas City-based cheese company Paris Brothers, Inc. is issuing a voluntary recall of several cheese products after it was discovered that they could be contaminated by Listeria monocytogenes. (FDA / Fox News)
Listeria can “cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems,” according to the FDA.
Healthy individuals can experience a severe headache, high fever, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea as a result of the infection.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
According to the FDA, no illnesses have been reported.
Individuals who purchased the affected product can return it to the store where it was bought for a refund.
Editor’s Note — Don’t miss “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy,” airing Sundays at 9 p.m. ET. Tucci is traveling across Italy to discover the secrets and delights of the country’s regional cuisines.
(CNN) — The Swiss are famous for fondue, but their neighbors in Italy have their own take on this delectable, melted cheese dish.
The traditional Swiss version melts together a variety of cheeses with wine and a little bit of cornstarch for a smooth texture. Then the cheese mixture is put in a pot rubbed down with a cut garlic clove and seasoned with nutmeg and black pepper.
But on the other side of the Alps, in the region of Valle d’Aosta, the Italians have their own version of fondue called fonduta.
Instead of Emmentaler and Gruyère, the Italians use just one cheese: fontina.
Fontina is a creamy semihard cheese with a mild, nutty flavor.
“Italian fontina cheese from cows fed on sweet grass, high on these mountains, make the fondue so luscious that it doesn’t need the white wine they add in France or Switzerland,” Stanley Tucci said.
“Oh, my God, that is so good,” Tucci said, dipping his bread in the warm pot. “So delicious!”
(From left) Sommelier and local teacher Cecilia Lazzarotto and Tucci share a meal of regional specialties from Valle d’Aosta at Alpage Restaurant.
Matt Holyoak
Fonduta Valdostana
(Valle d’Aosta Fondue)
If you’d like to add a gourmet touch, top the fondue with freshly grated black truffles, which are in season from December to early March and available at online specialty stores. As an alternate option, try presliced truffle flakes, available online year-round.
Makes 2 servings
Ingredients
2 ¼ cups | 500 grams fontina
2 cups | 500 milliliters milk
4 egg yolks
1 ¼ tablespoons | 10 grams all-purpose flour
Black truffle flakes, preferably freshly grated (optional)
Accompaniments
Boiled potatoes
Toasted croutons
Equipment
Bain-marie or double boiler
Fondue pot
Fondue gel fuel (if the pot is not electric)
Instructions
1. Start by removing the outer crust of the fontina, then slice it thinly. Cut the fontina into cubes and transfer the cheese to a rectangular baking dish and pour the milk over it.
2. Drain the cheese and set aside the excess milk for later (in step four). Place the cubes of cheese in a saucepan. Fill a bain-marie with water and make sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the saucepan. This space between the water and the food helps keep the temperature constant and the food from overheating. Next, place the saucepan on top, and cook the fontina over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the cheese is melted, 10-15 minutes. At first, you will see a mass, then slowly the cheese will melt and become more fluid.
3. Once you have reached the desired consistency, pour in the egg yolks one at a time, then add the flour and mix continuously.
4. Add the leftover milk from step two as needed to make sure the consistency is smooth and creamy.
5. Stir well and cook for another 10 minutes. Finally, remove from heat and blend the cheese mixture.
6. Once ready, pour the fondue into the fondue pot. If using a fondue pot that has a burner, follow the manufacturer’s instructions for preparing and lighting gel fuel at the base below the pot that will keep the fondue warm and preserve its fluid consistency.
7. Serve the fondue immediately, while it’s still hot, with boiled potatoes and toasted croutons.
8. Flavor the fondue with truffle flakes, if desired.
This recipe is courtesy of Lorella Tamone of Alpage Restaurant in Breuil-Cervinia, Italy.
In terms of quintessential New York experiences, ordering a bagel with cream cheese (not toasted, particularly if the bagel is fresh out of the oven) tops the list. But now, bagel shop patrons are beginning to have problems securing one half of their orders.
A cream cheese shortage is throwing New York City’s bagel shops across all five boroughs into a frenzy, leaving some of the city’s top bagel spots, including Tompkins Square Bagels in the East Village and Absolute Bagels on the Upper West Side, with only enough schmear in stock to last a few days, the New York Times reports. The Upper West Side’s Zabar’s has enough cream cheese to last only the next 10 days.
These shops typically go through thousands of pounds of cream cheese every couple of weeks, a cadence being threatened by the cream cheese shortage. Store owners who found themselves in dire straits are crossing state lines in pursuit of the decadent dairy item, begging their distributors for more product and resorting to dealing with cases of individually wrapped three-pound cream cheese sticks instead.
According to the Times, the national supply chain difficulties are the culprit threatening the bagel habits of New Yorkers and tourists alike. Philadelphia, the Kraft Heinz brand that many New York bagel shops use as the base for their cream cheese, just can’t keep up with the demand.
In pursuit of understanding the cream cheese shortage, we visited a number of New York City bagel establishments – classic Manhattan delis, Brooklyn stalwarts and a bodega – to see whether they are simply overdoing the amount they put in each bagel and how supply chain problems have affected them.
A Russ and Daughters bagel with 3/8th of an inch of cream cheese. Photograph: Maya Kosoff/The Guardian
The first establishment on our list: a classic New York stalwart, a plain bagel with scallion schmear from Russ & Daughters. We ordered our bagel at the 107-year-old shop’s counter on Houston Street and didn’t notice a marked decrease in the availability of cream cheese. In fact, there was about half an inch of cream cheese – enough that this reporter had to scrape off a fair amount before taking a bite.
News of the cream cheese shortage had immediately spawned debate on social media about the sometimes dangerous levels of cream cheese found on the average bagel in the city. “Have they considered not putting a pound on each bagel?” Joel Weirtheimer, a former associate staff secretary for Barack Obama, tweeted. “Let’s be real: the cream cheese shortage is entirely self-inflicted from NYC bagel shops loading each bagel with a pound of cream cheese,” historian Jake Anbinder tweeted.
These bystanders aren’t alone in their criticism. Others have observed this trend over the years. In an article for Serious Eats in 2014, writer Max Falkowitz took cream cheese samples from six New York City bagel shops and found a range from 0.7 ounces, at Black Seed in Brooklyn, to 3.9 ounces, at Brooklyn Bagel in Manhattan. Absolute Bagel had 2.5 ounces, and outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio’s favorite, Bagel Hole, served 1.7 ounces of cream cheese.
An Ess-a-Bagel bagel with 3/4 of an inch of cream cheese. Photograph: Maya Kosoff/The Guardian
One bagel shop that seems to be having no trouble keeping a healthy amount of schmear on their bagels is Ess-a-bagel, located on Third Avenue. The sesame bagel with scallion cream cheese we picked up from Ess-a-bagel this week had roughly ¾ of an inch of cream cheese nestled between the bagel halves, a hefty amount of dairy for even the strongest stomach.
Following my important bagel jaunt to Manhattan, I turned my attention to some Brooklyn bagel shops. Olde Brooklyn Bagel Shoppe, my neighborhood shop on Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights, was out of a couple varieties of cream cheese when I visited, but nobody could tell me if it was strictly supply chain-related. I left with my plain bagel with scallion cream cheese (at some point in this lo-fi experiment I decided I should adhere as closely as possible to something resembling consistency – for science) and came home to measure the cream cheese, as one does.
Olde Brooklyn Bagel Shoppe with 1/4 inch of cream cheese. Photograph: Maya Kosoff
Though no bagel shop I visited demonstrated the urgent scarcity in the Times story, Olde Brooklyn Bagel Shoppe’s paltry cream cheese offering – about a quarter of an inch of the spread – was the most concerning bellwether I saw.
A spokesperson for Kraft Heinz, which owns the Philadelphia brand, provided a quite vague explanation of the cream cheese shortage to the Times:
“We continue to see elevated and sustained demand across a number of categories where we compete … As more people continue to eat breakfast at home and use cream cheese as an ingredient in easy desserts, we expect to see this trend continue.”
Cream cheese’s roots aren’t actually in New York City, but rather in upstate New York. In the 1870s, a farmer named William Lawrence was making Neufchatel cheese – a rich French cheese. But a grocer called Park & Tilford approached him and asked if he could make an even more decadent cheese that they could sell for more money. “He’s curdled the milk, pressed all the liquid out, and now he puts cream into it. What does he call it? He calls it cream cheese,” said Jeffrey A Marx, a rabbi at the Santa Monica Synagogue who has written extensively about the history of cream cheese, to Mashable. Cream cheese began as a decadent, upscale invention, and it sold for $0.30 a pound in 1889 (for comparison, Muenster sold for $0.13 a pound, Marx wrote).
In present-day Brooklyn, where a pound of cream cheese costs somewhere between $5 and $8, I moved on to Bagel Pub, a bagel spot in Park Slope and Crown Heights that I tend to avoid specifically because of how much cream cheese it uses on its bagels. A few tubs of cream cheese were missing from the display case, but it didn’t matter for my bagel, as you can see:
A Bagel Pub bagel with an inch of cream cheese. Photograph: Maya Kosoff/The Guardian
The fine folks at Bagel Pub had slathered more than an inch of cream cheese on my bagel – more cream cheese than I could ever feasibly eat with a bagel.
The last stop on my New York City cream cheese welfare tour: my corner bodega. The guys there apologized when they had to substitute plain cream cheese for my requested scallion – seemingly the only real victim of the cream cheese supply chain I noted all day.
A bodega bagel with half an inch of cream cheese. Photograph: Maya Kosoff/The Guardian
The bagel was unremarkable, but with just under half an inch of cream cheese for $1.50, who could ever really complain?
A solution to the crisis – make your own cream cheese
If the cream cheese shortage does become dire enough that you get the urge to make your own from scratch, the good news is you probably have everything you need to make it in your kitchen already: whole milk, lemon juice and salt. There are many different recipes that will help you arrive at a decent alternative to your beloved bagel shop’s cream cheese, but in essence, it comes down to a few short steps.
Begin by pouring your milk into a saucepan. Heat the milk and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat.
Don’t let the milk boil for too long. As soon as it starts to boil, add the lemon juice and turn off the heat.
The milk will naturally curdle for a few minutes. This looks like curds forming, and a light yellow liquid will separate from the curds.
After a few minutes, pour the curdled milk through a cheesecloth and a sieve. This will strain out the liquid whey.
Pour cold water over the sieve to rinse the curds.
Squeeze the curds to drain any last drop of the whey.
Put the strained milk curds into a food processor or blender, add salt and blend.
After a minute or two, you’ll have a light and fluffy cream cheese – just like the bagel shop.
It’s no secret that beer and blue cheese go hand in hand – but a new study reveals how deep their roots run in Europe, where workers at a salt mine in Austria were gorging on both up to 2,700 years ago.
Scientists made the discovery by analysing samples of human excrement found at the heart of the Hallstatt mine in the Austrian Alps.
Frank Maixner, a microbiologist at the Eurac Research Institute in Bolzano, Italy, who was the lead author of the report, said he was surprised to learn salt miners more than two millennia ago were advanced enough to “use fermentation intentionally.”
“This is very sophisticated in my opinion,” Maixner said. “This is something I did not expect at that time.”
The finding was the earliest evidence to date of cheese ripening in Europe, according to researchers.
And while alcohol consumption is certainly well documented in older writings and archaeological evidence, the salt miners’ faeces contained the first molecular evidence of beer consumption on the continent at that time.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that not only were prehistoric culinary practices sophisticated, but also that complex processed foodstuffs as well as the technique of fermentation have held a prominent role in our early food history,” Kerstin Kowarik, of the Museum of Natural History Vienna, said.
The town of Hallstatt, a Unesco World Heritage Site, has been used for salt production for more than 3,000 years.
The community “is a very particular place, it’s located in the Alps, in the middle of nowhere,” Maixner said. “The whole community worked and lived from this mine.”
The miners spent their entire days there, working, eating and going to the bathroom in the mine.
It is thanks to the constant temperature of around 8C (46F) and the high concentration of salt at the mine that the miners’ faeces were preserved particularly well.
Researchers analysed four samples: one dating back to the bronze age, two from the iron age and one from the 18th century.
One of them, about 2,700 years old, was found to contain two fungi, Penicillium roqueforti and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Both are known today for their use in food making.
“The Hallstatt miners seem to have intentionally applied food fermentation technologies with microorganisms which are still nowadays used in the food industry,” Maixner said.
The researchers also studied the miners’ diet, which consisted mainly of cereals, some fruit, and beans and meats as the source of protein.
“The diet was exactly what these miners needed, in my opinion,” Maixner said. “It’s clearly balanced and you have all major components you need.”
The main difference with today’s menus is the degree of food processing, which was very low at the time. The bronze and iron age miners used whole grains, suggesting the consumption of some kind of porridge. For the 18th-century miners, the grains appeared ground, indicating they ate bread or cookies.
One of the study’s other findings was the composition of the miners’ microbiota, or the set of bacteria present in their bodies.
In the four samples studied, the microbiota were very similar to that of modern non-western populations, which tend to have a more traditional lifestyle.
This suggests a “recent shift” in the microbiota of industrialised humans, “probably due to modern lifestyle, diet, or medical advances,” the study said.
However, microbiota are often linked to different modern diseases, Maixner said. According to him, determining when exactly this change occurred could help scientists understand what caused it.
The study was published in the journal Current Biology on Wednesday.
David Bakhtiari? He’s still on the PUP list for at least another two weeks. Za’Darius Smith? He just had back surgery and will be out indefinitely. Marquez Valdes-Scantling is on injured reserve for two more games as well, and maybe Elgton Jenkins returns this week, but there’s no guarantee there.
Now, the Green Bay Packers can add All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander to the list of their wounded. In the Packers’ 27-17 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Alexander suffered a shoulder injury that should keep him out for a few weeks at minimum and could cost him more time depending on how severe the injury ends up.
While the Packers deal with injuries to key players on both sides of the football, few players are more critical to the team’s success on defense than Alexander. One of the true shutdown corners in the NFL, Alexander is an equally adept tackler, and it was his aggressiveness and willingness to make a play on a big, physical running back in the flat on Sunday that resulted in his unfortunate injury.
Now the Packers face a massive question mark in their secondary, particularly with Kevin King missing the last two games as well. The Packers’ 3-1 record through four games is encouraging, but with a late bye week still eight games away and a stretch of four road games in five weeks coming up, Green Bay will need to find some answers in the defensive backfield, and quickly.
Randall Cobb is right where Aaron Rodgers needs him to be | Packers.com Cobb exploded for a huge game on Sunday afternoon, catching five passes for 69 yards and two touchdowns. This is presumably exactly the type of performance Aaron Rodgers envisioned when he insisted on Cobb returning to Green Bay.
Packers CB Jaire Alexander’s Shoulder Injury Leaves Huge Void in Secondary – SI.com Jaire made a tremendous play to stuff a 4th-and-4 pass attempt into the flat, but he paid for it. Reports after the game suggest that the injury is to the AC joint in his shoulder, but the severity of the injury will determine how long Alexander will be unavailable.
Jaire Alexander’s shoulder injury looms large after Packers’ third consecutive win – The Athletic With Alexander out, the Packers will surely hope that Kevin King can return to the field this week after missing the last two contests with a concussion. But both he and Eric Stokes have played primarily on the right side of the defense; will one of them line up in Alexander’s typical left cornerback spot, or will Isaac Yiadom step into a much larger role? Time will tell.
5 standouts from Packers 27-17 win over Steelers | Packers Wire Cobb is an obvious star, but give AJ Dillon plenty of credit for his hard running in sloppy conditions. Even Eric Stokes deserves some praise, as he capped off an inconsistent afternoon with a game-sealing interception.
Turkey: ‘Missing’ man joins search party looking for himself – BBC News A Turkish man joined a search party without realizing he was the person they were looking for. That’s a particularly impressive feat.
Having a small amount of cheese and chocolate daily could protect your heart, a study suggests.
Researchers found other fermented dairy products like yogurt were also associated with benefits.
The study found mostly plant-based diets have the most health benefits, with cheese and chocolate in moderation.
Research suggests a mostly plant-based diet can improve your heart health. However, you don’t need to go totally vegan — evidence suggests foods like cheese, chocolate, and yogurt have benefits, too.
Eating some full-fat dairy in moderation can help protect your heart, according to a study published July 6 in Cardiovascular Research.
Researchers from the University of Naples reviewed nearly 100 studies on the relationship between
heart disease risk and dietary habits. They focused on specific categories of food, such as red meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, produce, nuts, and grains.
Their findings suggest that regularly eating yogurt and small amounts of cheese could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, possibly because of the fermentation process involved in those foods. Small amounts of chocolate were also linked to lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
Dairy can be good for the heart, even the full-fat varieties
The researchers found eating up to 200 grams of dairy products per day wasn’t linked to increased risk of heart disease, although there’s limited data on high consumption.
Contrary to old theories that high saturated fat content is risky for heart health, the current study found certain types of dairy seemed to have a protective effect.
For instance, people who consumed at least one 200 gram serving, or three-quarters of a cup of yogurt, per day had a lower risk of heart disease than people who didn’t eat yogurt.
Cheese was also found to be beneficial in moderate amounts, up to 50 grams (about two and a half slices or a third of a cup of shredded cheese) per day.
A bit of chocolate each day could protect your heart
The study also found a small but significant association between regularly eating chocolate and a slightly lower risk of heart disease.
Eating between 20 gram to 45 grams of chocolate a day, between one half to a whole 1.5 ounce chocolate bar was found to have the most benefits. Eating more wasn’t linked to better heart health.
However, researchers recommend 10 grams of chocolate a day, to avoid consuming too much added sugar or excess calories that can offset the benefits for heart health.
Evidence points to specific compounds in cocoa called flavanols that are linked to the heart health benefits of chocolate.
While the most recent study didn’t differentiate between types of chocolate, previous studies suggest dark chocolate may be the best option for heart health, since it’s richer in flavanols, antioxidants and other beneficial nutrients. Milk chocolate, in contrast, tends to be higher in added sugar and processed fats, too much of which can be bad for your health.
A woman enjoys new Kraft Macaroni & Cheese ice cream near Union Square in New York City on July 14, 2020. (Alexi Rosenfeld, Getty Images)
NEW YORK — Nothing gets cheddar than this …
The Kraft Heinz Company has partnered with Brooklyn-based Van Leeuwen Ice Cream to introduce a limited-edition macaroni and cheese flavor of ice cream.
“We know that there is nothing more refreshing on a hot summer day than ice cream. That is why we wanted to combine two of the most iconic comfort foods to create an ice cream with the unforgettable flavor of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese we all grew up with,” Emily Violett, senior associate brand manager for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, said in a news release.
To create the cheesy dessert, Van Leeuwen churned the flavor of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese into its ice cream. “Not only does it taste delicious, but it’s also made with high-quality ingredients and contains no artificial flavors, preservatives, or dyes just like our Kraft Macaroni & Cheese,” said Violett.
On Instagram, Van Leeuwen called it “the ice cream you never knew you needed.”
Van Leeuwen began selling the new flavor on July 14, which is National Macaroni & Cheese Day. It was made available nationwide online and in their scoop shops in New York, California, New Jersey and Texas.
Of course, it quickly sold out. But new supplies are on the way, the ice cream company said.
“Who would’ve thought #NationalMAcAndCheeseDay would break the internet,” Van Leeuwen said on Instagram. “We’re so flattered by the overwhelming response to this cheesy partnership with our friends Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.”
ATLANTA (CNN) — On your next trip to Costco, don’t be surprised if you can’t find your favorite cheese.
Costco is having trouble stocking imported cheeses because of a shortage of shipping containers around the globe and bottlenecks at key West Coast ports, such as Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland and Seattle. The combination has led to delays for suppliers shipping their goods, retailers like Costco receiving products, and higher costs along the supply chain.
“Overseas freight has continued to be an issue in regards to container shortage and port delays. This has caused timing delays on certain categories,” Costco chief financial officer Richard Galanti said on a call with analysts last week.
The problem isn’t just limited to cheese, but also seafood, olive oils, furniture, sporting goods and lawn and garden equipment, Galanti said.
He expects the “pressures to ease in the coming months, but it’s impacting everyone.”
Supply chain pressures
Supply chain pressures have been a constant for retailers throughout the pandemic. But a chorus of chains, including Crocs, Urban Outfitters, Foot Locker and Dollar Tree, in recent weeks have described the container shortage and backlogs at West Coast ports as the latest challenges in securing merchandise for consumers.
“Importing product from Asia, getting it through Long Beach and other ports, and getting it shipped to customers is really challenging right now,” Crocs CEO Andrew Rees said on a Feb. 23 call with analysts. “I think that will smooth out over time, but it’s going to take a little while.”
“We’re experiencing some delays in receiving import merchandise as a result of worldwide equipment shortages and issues with port congestion,” Dollar Tree CFO Kevin Wampler said last week.
And home goods at Anthropologie have also been delayed arriving in the United States because of container shortfalls in Asia, said Urban Outfitters COO Francis Conforti on a call with analysts.
“We are starting to see some very, very slight improvement, and we’re hopeful that the improvement will continue at a moderate pace.”
Pandemic demand
Demand for food, furniture, appliances and home goods has spiked in the pandemic as consumers spend more time at home. It hasn’t let up.
U.S. seaborne imports climbed 20% in January compared with last year, according to the latest data available from Panjiva, a global trade data research firm. Imports of consumer discretionary goods such as household appliances were the biggest driver of the growth, according to Panjiva.
Higher demand and supply chain disruption are driving up costs, too: The total cost of shipping to the United States by sea reached $6.36 billion in January, compared to $2.46 billion a year earlier.
“The supply chain has been maxed out,” said Jon Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation, a trade group for the retail industry. Gold said U.S. ports were “not able to handle the volume that is coming in” because of a surge in demand, as well as hundreds of workers who have been sickened by Covid-19.
“Containers have been sitting at the port longer than they typically do” and “the availability of empty containers has been a challenge, both here and overseas,” he said.
The pressures have led more companies to turn to air cargo to ship goods. Until now, air freight was “always a last resort because it was eight to ten times more expensive than ocean freight,” he said.
Gold said companies are trying to avoid passing off the higher costs they are facing to consumers, but some retailers may be forced to offset the rise by raising prices on the shelves.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified the specific brands of cheese products that have led to a Listeria outbreak on the East Coast.
Earlier this month, the CDC issued an alert to the public following several reported illnesses in consumers who ate certain varieties of fresh, soft, cheese.
“Don’t eat any Hispanic-style fresh and soft cheeses (like queso fresco, queso blanco, and queso panela), until we identify a specific type or brand that is making people sick,” the initial alert from the CDC stated.
This week, the CDC identified the specific brands: El Abuelito, Rio Grande, and Rio Lindo.
According to the CDC, all queso fresco products sold under those names should be considered suspect and could potentially be contaminated with Listeria.
On Friday, Jan. 19, El Abuelito Cheese Inc. recalled all queso fresco products made at the same facility with sell-by dates through Sunday, March 28.
“Other El Abuelito brand cheeses made or handled in the same facility as the queso fresco have not yet been recalled, but CDC is concerned they may be contaminated and could make people sick,” officials said. “Investigators are working to identify all cheese products made or handled in that facility that may be contaminated.”
As of Thursday, Feb. 25, there have been 10 reported illnesses, including nine hospitalizations due to the outbreak. Of those 10 illnesses, four were reported in New York, one in Connecticut, with others reported in Virginia and Maryland.
Officials noted that Connecticut officials found the outbreak strain of Listeria in samples of El Abuelito brand queso fresco cheese collected from a store where a sick person bought El Abuelito brand cheeses.
According to the Food Safety and Inspection Service, consumption of food contaminated with L. monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a serious infection that primarily affects older adults, those with weakened immune systems, pregnant women, and their newborns.
Less commonly, others outside those risk groups are affected.
“Listeriosis can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms.
“An invasive infection spreads beyond the gastrointestinal tract. In pregnant women, the infection can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, premature delivery, or life-threatening infection of the newborn. In addition, serious and sometimes fatal infections in older adults and persons with weakened immune systems.”
Listeria affects approximately 1,600 Americans each year, killing around 260, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Most people suffer only spiking fever, stomachaches, nausea, diarrhea, and headaches.
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