FDA warns that soft French cheese may be tainted with listeria
- The FDA is urging U.S. consumers not to eat l'Explorateur cheese because it may be contaminated with listeria.
- Two women in France became seriously ill after eating tainted cheese.
- Listeriosis is a rare but serious illness usually caused by eating foods with the listeria monocytogenes bacteria.
Federal food regulators are urging consumers not to eat a brand of soft ripened cheese from France possibly contaminated with listeria. The pasteurized cow's milk cheese, called l'Explorateur, was made in St. Simeon, France, and distributed throughout the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration said Friday in issuing a public health alert.
Packaged in clear plastic containers and sold in circular, 250 gram wheels, the suspect cheese contained sell-by-dates of May 7, 2019, and May 14, 2019, with one of the following product lot codes: 7742-H 057 and 77432-H 064. The cheese should be thrown out immediately, the FDA said.
Listeriosis is a rare but serious illness usually caused by eating foods with the listeria monocytogenes bacteria. Symptoms including fever, muscle aches and diarrhea can appear from a few days to a few weeks after eating contaminated food.
The U.S. is among more than 30 nations to have received shipments of the potentially tainted cheese, with the product part of a mass recall of raw and pasteurized cheese made by French company Fromagère de la Brie.
The French public health agency has identified two cases of listeriosis in women who became seriously ill after eating the cheese, according to Food Safety News.
