Whole Foods is really on top of their game.
They just recalled a roll of cheese because they uncovered Listeria monocytogenes in whole wheels of the cheese.
The contaminated cheese is Papillon Organic Roquefort, and was sold in stores nationwide recently.
The store sells this cheese by cutting the wheels into wedges and packaging them individually for sale. But the Listeria was found during a routine inspection by the Food and Drug Administration, and to be safe, they’re recalling all wedges sold.
The sticker numbers used to sell this cheese all began with “PLU 029536.”
Listeria is a nasty bacterium. It can cause listeriosis, which could last anywhere from three to 70 days.
The symptoms include stiff neck, fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. Serious sufferers could end up in the hospital, and it could be fatal in small children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with suppressed immune systems, such as people with HIV or cancer.
Obviously, if you have this cheese, you should get rid of it. Whole Foods is also offering refunds to those who have the receipt from when they bought the cheese.
But that’s not the end of disinfecting your possibly contaminated space. Listeria can even grow in cold temperatures, so it’s best to wash everything the cheese touched (mainly your refrigerator shelves), with hot, soapy water, and rinse them clean.
Whole Foods luckily caught the listeria outbreak before it affected anyone, it seems. There are no reported cases yet of listeria due to sale of the cheese. But after all, it’s better safe than sorry.
