Some more Queso Fresco cheeses are being recalled over concerns of Listeria monocytogenes contamination, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just announced. The FDA is warning consumers not to eat Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese Mexican style soft cheese (two specific lots) or any Queso Cotija Molido Mexican style grated cheese manufactured and distributed by […]
Some more Queso Fresco cheeses are being recalled over concerns of <"https://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/listeria">Listeria monocytogenes contamination, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just announced. The FDA is warning consumers not to eat Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese Mexican style soft cheese (two specific lots) or any Queso Cotija Molido Mexican style grated cheese manufactured and distributed by Peregrina Cheese Corporation of New York City.
The Peregrina Cheese recall involves two lots of its Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese Mexican Style Soft Cheese and one lot of its Queso Cotija Molido Mexican Style Grated Cheese. The Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese comes in 14-ounce foil wrapped packages marked with lot number 4469 or 4477 affixed to each package on a white sticker and bears UPC number 8 17424 00024 6 and Plant # 36-8431. The Queso Cotija Molido Cheese comes in 15-ounce clear plastic bags that are marked with UPC number 8 17424 00027 7 and Plant # 36-1388, but does not contain a lot number or production date.
The recalled Peregrina Queso Cotija Molido Mexican Style Grated Cheese and Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese Mexican Style Soft Cheese products were distributed in early February to retail stores in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Manhattan, as well as to two towns in Pennsylvania: Scranton and Hazelton. Peregrina Cheese has contacted all its customers and instructed them to destroy all affected products in their inventory.
The FDA is advising consumers who purchased any of the products to discard them immediately. Although the FDA detected Listeria monocytogenes in one production date of Peregrina Cheese Corporation’s Queso Cotija Molido Cheese, the agency is urging consumers to discard all of these products because they do not contain a lot code or production day code to allow consumers to distinguish between a product that is of concern and a product that is not of concern. Peregrina Cheese Corporation can be reached in Brooklyn, New York at 1-718-456-2391, Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm EST.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time Peregrina Cheese products have been recalled in recent months. In February we wrote that certain Queso Fresco, Fresh Cheese, made by Peregrina Cheese was possibly contaminated with the Listeria monocytogenes pathogen, the germ that causes the dangerous, sometimes deadly, listeriosis infection. The February recall involved Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese products packed in 14-ounce foil packages that bear the code number “4461.†In December 2007, another recall of Peregrina Cheese’s Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese—also sold in 14-ounce, foil-wrapped packages—was recalled due to possible listeria contamination.
Listeriosis, the food poisoning generated by Listeria monocytogenes, is particularly dangerous to the elderly, pregnant women, newborns, those with chronic medical conditions, people with HIV, or those undergoing chemotherapy. In serious cases, the disease spreads to the nervous system, causing headaches, stiff neck, and convulsions. Listeriosis can also cause meningitis and blood poisoning in immune-compromised individuals. In pregnant women, listeriosis can result in miscarriage, stillbirth, or birth of a baby suffering from the infection.