Plymouth-based Sargento Foods Inc. and Michigan-based retailer Meijer have both expanded their recalls of cheese sourced from Indiana-based Deutsch Kase Haus LLC.
Sargento also announced it would terminate its relationship with Deutsch Kase Haus after potential Listeria monocytogenes contamination concerns prompted the recalls. There have been no illnesses reported in connection with the Meijer or Sargento recalls. The contamination has the potential to cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, but an infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
“We deeply regret any inconvenience or concern this issue has caused,” said Louie Gentine, chief executive officer of Sargento Foods. “We have high expectations for the quality and safety of our products and hold our suppliers accountable to those same standards. We will continue to evaluate our processes to ensure we remain a leader in food safety and quality.”
Sargento and Meijer both announced recalls on Feb. 10 of Colby and Colby Jack cheeses sourced from Deutsch Kase Haus. Seven other companies have announced recalls of cheese products in the past week as well.
Sargento’s recall included a variety of sliced and shredded cheeses. A full list is available here.
Meijer’s recall included Meijer brand Colby and Colby Jack cheeses sold at deli counters from Nov. 10 to Feb. 9. The products would have had UPCs starting with 215927 or 215938.The company expanded the recall to include Meijer brand Artisan Made Natural Muenster cheese located on cheese islands in the deli section with expiration dates of Mar. 28, 2017, May 13, 2017 and June 10, 2017. The expansion also included pre-made ham subs with sell by dates between Nov. 2 and Dec. 30.
Other companies to issue recalls in connection to the Deutsch Kase Haus issue include Dutch Valley Food Distributors, Saputo Inc., Biery Cheese Co., Guggisberg Cheese Inc., Choice Farms LLC, Country Fresh and MDS Foods Inc.
