SAN DIEGO, Sept. 29 (San Diego News Online) — San Diego County public health officials are urging residents not to eat Sierra Nevada Graziers raw milk cheese. The warning follows a nationwide recall and a multistate E. coli outbreak. Two of California’s three reported cases involve children under 5 in San Diego County, according to county officials.
Which cheese is recalled?
Sierra Nevada Cheese Company has recalled all Graziers raw milk cheeses, not just a single variety. The Food and Drug Administration lists medium cheddar, sharp cheddar, jalapeño jack and Monterey jack. The recall includes 8- and 16-ounce retail packages and 5-pound loaves sold for food service or wholesale use. The FDA says the cheese was distributed nationwide.
Raw milk cheese is made with milk that has not been pasteurized, a heat treatment used to kill harmful germs.
What should people do with it?
The FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise people not to eat the recalled cheese and to throw it away or return it. The FDA also advises cleaning any surfaces and containers the cheese touched. Businesses should not sell or serve it, the agency says.
What do investigators know about the outbreak?
The CDC and FDA report 13 E. coli O26 infections across nine states: California, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Tennessee and Utah. Eight people were hospitalized, three developed a serious complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, and no deaths have been reported. More than half of those who became ill are children age 5 or younger.
All nine people interviewed by investigators said they had eaten the cheese, according to the FDA. The CDC says genetic testing found that bacteria from people who became ill were closely related. The FDA says it is still investigating where the contamination began and whether other products are affected. Those questions remain open even as the agencies link the illnesses to Graziers cheese.
