Deadly decade-long listeria outbreak linked to cheese from a California business

A nasty, deadly outbreak of listeria that killed two and left more than two dozen individuals sick has been traced to a cheese and dairy company based out of California, it has been revealed.

In a shocking new comprehensive Food Safety Alert published on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention namedropped Rizo-López Foods, citing a recall it had ordered and that the company willingly went along with after discovering that several of its cheese and dairy products were causing some severe cases of listeria.

Specifically, the alert cites 26 cases, which included 23 hospitalisations and two deaths across 11 different states. The products in question included different types of queso, crema, blanco suave, Oaxaca, panela, fresco, requeson, ricotta, yogurt and cojita, among other products. All of which were reportedly sold under the following brands:

Listeria monocytogenes is the causative agent of the bacterial infection called listeriosis.

• Campesino
• Casa Cardenas
• Don Francisco
• Dos Ranchitos
• El Huache
• Food City
• La Ordena
• Rio Grande
• Rizo Bros
• San Carlos
• Santa Maria
• Tio Francisco
• 365 Whole Foods Market

Anyone who comes into contact with any of the products has been asked first and foremost not to eat them and to throw them away immediately or return them to wherever they were bought. Then, any surfaces, including refrigerators, containers and cooktops, that came into contact with the products should be thoroughly cleaned, especially as listeria can travel to other foods and surfaces and infect them.

If any symptoms of the disease are detected, consumers are asked to call their healthcare providers immediately, with the CDC stating that symptoms can include fever, muscle aches, tiredness or a headache, stiff neck, confusion, a loss of balance or even seizures.

This image provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024 shows brands of cheese recalled due to a decade-long outbreak of listeria food poisoning that killed two people and sickened more than two dozen

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“Symptoms usually start within 2 weeks after eating food contaminated with Listeria , but may start as early as the same day or as late as 10 weeks after,” the government agency added.

The outbreak was finally traced back to the company after new cases were reported in December this year, but only after a person died in California in 2017 and another died in Texas in 2020, according to the CDC, which had been investigating the outbreak before but struggled to find the actual source. The first case occurred in June 2014.

Lab tests were able to trace the outbreak back to Rizo-Lopez Foods, which calls Modesto, California, home. The recalls were issued almost immediately after that.