Listeria

I remember a time (maybe ten years ago) in France that there was a listeria breakout in Livarot cheese; something about the reeds used to bind them.

One elderly lady who died of listeriosis had her refrigerator checked by authorities, and it turned out she was keeping it at 17°C (~63°F).
 
That said, though this is a very unfortunate occurrence, I feel as though cheese in the U.S. has a tough row to hoe as it is and doesn't warrant more regulatory strongarming. Am I wrong?
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
That said, though this is a very unfortunate occurrence, I feel as though cheese in the U.S. has a tough row to hoe as it is and doesn't warrant more regulatory strongarming. Am I wrong?
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It is difficult question to answer, but it is already highly regulated. And for good reason, it should be. A local dairy here had cases of Salmonella traced to their cheese. Alas, they had to shut down for almost a year and implement Hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) procedures which cost them about 100K. Obviously few farmstead cheese operations can afford that.
 
originally posted by MarkS:
Well listeria is natural. Anyone have a problem with that?
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'Cmon, that is really an inane and fatuous response to a serious issue. Listeriosis isn't a joke - and neither is food safety. We all love natural yeast fermentations and many raw milk cheeses, but no one wants people to die from eating them.
 
This is pretty scary stuff and feeds into FDA's long-standing prohibition against importation of raw milk cheeses, which only recently had been relaxed. I wonder if there is any chance that the infection resulted from cross-contamination with raw milk? Michael Pollan makes the persuasive argument in Cooked that the bacterial and fungal ecology of the cheese is inhospitable for the growth of Listeria.

Mark Lipton
 
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