New Recall of Cheese by Cacique Mandated

SACRAMENTO â€”  State health officials Tuesday ordered a recall of all brands of Cacique Mexican-style cheese manufactured before July 1, when inspectors were placed in the company’s factory in the City of Industry.

Samples of Cacique products were found to be contaminated with a potentially deadly bacterium linked to 60 deaths in a tainted-cheese epidemic, which was first publicly revealed almost a month ago.

This is the third time that the state Department of Health Services has ordered a recall of Mexican-style cheeses during that period.

The first case involved Jalisco brand cheeses. The Jalisco manufacturing plant was closed June 13 and all of its products recalled.

Some Products Recalled

Two weeks later, department officials reported that some cheeses manufactured by Cacique Fine Foods had not been properly pasteurized. But there was no evidence at the time that the company’s products were contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, the bacterium responsible for the outbreak of illness and death. Cacique challenged the validity of the state’s test results but voluntarily recalled all its products without pull dates, which indicate when a product should be taken off the shelf.

On Tuesday, Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer, state director of health services, ordered the recall of Cacique cheeses with pull dates earlier than Aug. 18, as well as any remaining cheeses without pull dates, which are printed on the wrappers.

Tests conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration showed that some samples of Cacique cheese were contaminated with bacteria responsible for listeriosis, which can be fatal to unborn infants, newborns, elderly individuals and patients with impaired immune defenses.

Since July 1, as part of its stepped-up program of cheese inspections after the Jalisco shutdown, the state Department of Food and Agriculture has placed inspectors in all plants still manufacturing Mexican-style cheeses, including Cacique’s.

Those inspectors have taken more than 40 samples of Cacique’s products this month, and in each case they believe that the products have been properly pasteurized and represent no danger.

In announcing the Cacique recall, Kizer warned consumers not to eat any Cacique products with a pull-date earlier than Aug. 18 that they might still have in their homes.

It is still unclear why the Cacique products were contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. One Department of Health Services official said there was a possibility that “funny milk� had been added to the cheese after the usual pasteurization procedure.

In the case of Jalisco Mexican Products in Artesia, state Food and Agriculture Department officials found evidence that the company had received more raw milk than their equipment could pasteurize.

That case is now under investigation by Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, who has charged that there might have been a conspiracy to sell adulterated cheese to the public.