Cheese Recall Expands to Dozens of Products As Two People Die

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the number of food vendors who must recall products containing cheese from a California producer officials suspect may be behind a nationwide listeria outbreak that has been linked to two deaths and dozens of hospitalizations.

On Saturday, the federal agency added three new products by different companies to a growing list of recalls over fears they contained potentially contaminated queso fresco and cotija cheeses manufactured by Rizo-López Foods, of Modesto, California.

It follows the voluntary recall of several products in the days prior, including salad kits, taco meals and bottles of dressing due to the same issue. To date, at least 16 products containing the affected cheeses have been recalled.

On February 5, Rizo-López Foods issued a voluntary recall of all of its dairy products. The FDA said that, based on information shared with it and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the company “may be a potential source of illness in an ongoing nationwide listeria monocytogenes outbreak.”

According to the CDC, the ongoing outbreak has led to 26 cases of illness, of which there have been 23 hospitalizations and two deaths across 11 states—the largest proportion of cases occurring in California.

An infection with listeriabacteria can cause a number of symptoms, with the worst affected usually being those with a weakened immune system, the elderly, pregnant women and newborns. Severe symptoms include miscarriages, stillbirths, seizures and death.

Those less affected can still suffer from fever, headaches, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea and confusion.

One of the latest products to be included in the recall are 768 chicken street taco kits supplied by Fresh Creative Foods and available through all Stater Bros. Markets in California, with sell-by dates up to and including February 10.

Also recalled are chicken street taco kits produced by Save Mart Companies in Save Mart and Lucky stores, as well as Lucky California delis, in California and Nevada that were labeled with a universal product code beginning with the digits 278230.

Most recently, the Perfect Bite Co. of Glendale, California, has been recalling Mexican style street corn bites distributed in Costco warehouses in California and Hawaii, with the lot number 2232321 and a best-before date of February 21, 2025.

No illnesses have been reported in connection with consumption of the latest products to be recalled.

Newsweek approached Fresh Creative Foods, Save Mart and the Perfect Bite Co. via email for comment on Sunday.

Rizo-López Foods told Newsweek on Wednesday: “As soon as we were aware of this, we made the immediate decision to stop production and voluntarily recall all our products manufactured in our facility.

“We are working hard and diligently to find the root cause of the problem and take corrective actions to prevent it from happening again. The health and well-being of our customers is our top priority. We have always aimed to provide the highest quality products and are committed to doing the right thing to protect the health of our consumers.”