Whole Foods Recalls Contaminated Cheese

On July 3rd, Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese Company announced a voluntary recall for three of their Les Frères cheese products after they were linked to a bacterial contamination. After this announcement, Whole Foods Market recalled the three cheeses, Les Frères, Petit Frère, and Petit Frère with Truffles, which they had been selling under the Whole Foods label, according to Food Poisoning Bulletin.

The contaminated cheese is linked to a Listeria monoytogenes outbreak that left one dead and several sick, The Associated Press reported. The bacteria causes listeriosis, and symptoms are severe headache, fever, neck stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. It also may cause miscarriages and stillbirth in pregnant women. Listeria may also fatally affect the elderly, young children, pregnant women, and people with a weakened immune system. Symptoms may not appear until 70 days after bacterial exposure, Food Poisoning Bulletin added.

The cheese was distributed in thirty states and Washington D.C. by the Wisconsin-based Crave Brothers. Reported illnesses occurred in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Ohio, Nature World News reported. Customers are encouraged to dispose of the cheese and bring the receipt to where they purchased it for a refund.