Cheese Listeria Recall for Old Europe Packages

PROVIDENCE, RI —The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) advises that Old Europe Cheese, Inc., is voluntarily recalling Brie and Camembert cheeses due to a potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes.

All Old Europe Cheese Brie and Camembert products with best-by dates through Dec. 14 are impacted by this recall. The recalled products were distributed from Aug. 1, through Sept. 28, and were sold at supermarkets, wholesale, and retail stores nationwide, and may include Albertsons, Safeway, Meijer, Harding’s, Shaw’s, Price Chopper, Market Basket, Raley’s, Save Mart, Giant Foods, Stop & Shop, Fresh Thyme, Lidl, Sprouts, Athenian Foods, and Whole Foods. For a complete list of recalled products and pictures of product labels, visit FDA’s website.

 If you have any of the recalled products, do not eat them. Throw them away or return them to the store where you purchased them. This recall has been linked to multiple illnesses nationwide.

Consumption of food contaminated with L. monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a serious infection that primarily affects older adults, people with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women and their newborns. Less commonly, people not in one of the high-risk groups are affected.

Listeriosis can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. An invasive infection spreads beyond the gastrointestinal tract. In pregnant women, the infection can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, premature delivery or life-threatening infection of the newborn. In addition, serious and sometimes fatal infections occur in older adults and people with weakened immune systems. Listeriosis is treated with antibiotics. Anyone in the higher-risk categories who experience flu-like symptoms within two months after eating contaminated food should seek medical care and tell their healthcare provider about eating the contaminated food.