Listeria Cheese Largest recall for years

Comprehensive return action started because of Listeria in cheese

01/30/2015

The Food Inspectorate in Salzburg is currently busy with Listeria loaded cheeses of cheese dairy Pötzelsberger from Adnet (Tennengau) with the largest return action for years, according to the latest release of the ORF Salzburg. After the cheese dairy had found Listerien-Belast in twelve products and had subsequently called for a recall, the food control authority is currently dealing with the control of the return action. „In the dimension we have not had that for years now“, the Head of Food Inspection, Andrea Huber, is quoted by the ORF.

On Wednesday alone, as part of the recall campaign in more than 50 companies, it was checked whether the potentially Listeria-contaminated products were actually taken out of service, reports ORF Salzburg. In addition, delivery routes are currently being reviewed in order to identify all customers of the cheeses concerned. „The cheese dairy has supplied several federal states, city and state Salzburg and also some traders in Germany“, the ORF quotes Andrea Huber. The buyers are health food stores, retailers and normal supermarkets, but also bakeries, butchers and hotels. „Some have a few kilos, some have 20 kilos, some more“, Huber continues.

Listeria is a very serious health risk
Ten employees of the Food Inspectorate will probably be working for days with the recall action, explained Andrea Huber. At present, the State Veterinary Directorate is also examining how Listeria succeeded in cheese. Especially for pregnant women, the elderly and people with already weakened immune system, the bacteria can be quite a health risk, according to the ORF. In the case of an infection, symptoms such as sudden onset, severe headache, high fever, nausea and vomiting may be observed. The potentially contaminated cheeses should therefore not be consumed. Consumers can return the cheese instead and receive the purchase price for this purpose.

Affected cheeses
According to the ORF, the twelve concerned cheeses include farmer's cheese, farmer's cheese with pepper, village cheese, piquant cheese, Magdalen cheese, hay-flower cheese and herbal witch-hazel with best-before dates from 17 February 2015 to 12 March 2015. In addition, lean cheese, lean cheese with pepper, alpine pearl and pumpkin pearl with best before dates from February 24 to March 19, 2015 and the Bergkäse with best before dates from February 27 to March 22, 2015. The affected products have been available since early January in the trade.

Europe-wide increase in Listeria infections
Citing a report from the EU Food Authority and the European Center for Disease Control, the ORF reports a Europe-wide increase in Listeria diseases. In the European Union (EU), for example, there were 1,763 confirmed cases of listeriosis in 2013, around 99 percent of the patients had to be hospitalized, and 191 infected people did not survive the disease. In 2009, the number of diseases was still at 1,675 cases and in 2012, 1,644 cases of listeriosis were registered, the ORF continues. Cause of the infections are usually finished products, such as packaged fish, but also products made from raw milk cheese and many other foods. Recently, just before Christmas in Vienna, a bio cheese was recalled because of the contamination with Listeria, according to the statement of the ORF. (Fp)