Florida is included in massive cheese and dairy recall. What to know, how many people got sick

C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida
·3 min read
8

Another day, another massive food recall. This time it's cheese.

Rizo-López Foods of Modesto, Calif., is recalling about four dozen dairy products including cheese, queso, crema, yogurt, and sour cream – for possible contamination with listeria. The products are sold nationwide under brand names 365 Whole Foods Market, Don Francisco and Tio Francisco, the company said in a press release.

Some products were sold at retail deli counters, the company said.

Which cheese is being recalled for listeria?

The FDA, CDC and state and local officials are investigating illnesses in a multi-year, multistate outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections linked to queso fresco and cotija cheese products made by Rizo Lopez Foods, Inc., of Modesto, California.
The FDA, CDC and state and local officials are investigating illnesses in a multi-year, multistate outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections linked to queso fresco and cotija cheese products made by Rizo Lopez Foods, Inc., of Modesto, California.

The recalled products include all "Sell By” dates of cheese, yogurt, and sour cream (crema) sold under these brand names, the FDA said:

  • 365 Whole Foods Market

  • Campesino

  • Casa Cardena

  • Don Francisco

  • Dos Ranchitos

  • El Huache

  • Food City

  • La Ordena

  • Rio Grande

  • Rizo Bros

  • San Carlos

  • Santa Maria

  • Tio Francisco

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has complete product descriptions and UPC (universal product codes) on its website.

Has Rizo-López Foods been investigated for listeria contamination before?

After the Hawaii State Department of Health reported in January 2024 about finding Listeria monocytogenes in a sample of Rizo Bros Aged Cotija, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added that investigation to previous listeria outbreaks connected to Rizo-López Foods in 2021 and 2017, with cases involving the same strain of listeria dating back to 2014.

The CDC reported Tuesday the outbreak has resulted in 26 illnesses with 2 deaths and 23 hospitalizations in 11 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.

This joins other recent food recalls such as Quaker Oats products including some Cap'n Crunch cereals and Gatorade protein bars (salmonella), thousands of pounds of ground beef (e Coli), some Coca-Cola products ("possible foreign material") and spinach (listeria).

What to do if you have cheese and dairy products recalled for listeria risk

Rizo-López Foods is voluntarily recalling its dairy products listed below because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes
Rizo-López Foods is voluntarily recalling its dairy products listed below because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes

The CDC and FDA have advice for consumers:

  • Throw products manufactured by Rizo-López Foods away or return them to where you bought them.

  • If you froze a product without the original packaging and can’t tell if it is part of the recall, throw it away.

  • Carefully clean and sanitize any surfaces the recalled products may have touched, as listeria can survive in refrigerators and spread to other foods and surfaces. Follow FDA safe handling and cleaning advice to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.

  • If you develop symptoms, contact your healthcare provider.

    • Pregnant people usually have fever, muscle aches, and tiredness, according to the CDC.

    • People who are not pregnant usually have fever, muscle aches, and tiredness but may have a headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, or seizures.

What is listeria?

Listeria are bacteria that can infect people with something called listeriosis that is usually mild, according to the CDC, but can spread beyond the intestines to cause fetal loss or newborn death in pregnant people and sepsis (infection of the bloodstream), meningitis or encephalitis (infection of the brain).

Infection during pregnancy results in fetal loss in about 20% of cases and newborn death in about 3% of cases, the CDC said. Listeria also commonly affects adults 65 years and older and people with weakened immune systems.

"Healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea," Rizo-López Foods, Inc. said in the press release.

The CDC estimates that Listeria is the third leading cause of death from foodborne illness in the United States.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Cheese recall: Rizo-López dairy products recalled for listeria risk