Cheese Recall Expanded to 4 Brands and 28 Varieties : Linked to 28 Deaths in Southland

Inspectors scoured an Artesia cheese-making plant today searching for the source of deadly bacteria that have killed 28 people in Los Angeles and Orange counties as health officials expressed concern that additional types of cheese may be infected.

Company officials said they have voluntarily recalled from market shelves their entire product line-- 28 varieties of cheese under four brand names.

As the recall of the Jalisco brand cheese products spread outside California, Jalisco Mexican Products Inc. announced that it is voluntarily removing its entire line of dairy products from all markets in eight Western states.

Company President Gary McPherson told a Pasadena news conference that Jalisco was “shocked and sick at heart to learn that two of our products, queso fresco and cotija, may have contained a bacteria which caused deaths here in Southern California.” Jalisco produces cheeses under four labels. It makes 25 different cheeses under the label Jalisco; 4 under the label Jimenez; 4 under La Vaquita, and 9 under Guadalajara.

No New Deaths Today

“This recall will remain in effect until we are certain where the problem lies and can guarantee the public that our cheese is safe,” McPherson said in a prepared statement.

No additional deaths were reported today. Besides the 28 deaths--many newborns and pregnant women--health officials said 59 others were stricken with the flu-like ailment.

They said that the contamination was discovered in the two types of cheese after a “grab sample” examination of market shelves. The samples were sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta last Friday for study, and the county was notified Thursday that the cheese contained the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes.

“I can’t say other cheeses (from Jalisco) are completely free,” said Dr. Shirley Fannin, associate director of communicable disease control for Los Angeles County. “That’s unknown to us.”

More Than ‘One Batch’

Fannin said the contamination was not limited to “one batch” of the cheeses.

She said the expiration dates on the two cheese types found to contain the bacteria were June 26 and Aug. 9. Processing usually occurs 90 days before the date on the product.

“Our inference has to be it’s not a one-batch problem,” Fannin said. “It’s intermediate or it’s continuous.”

McPherson said the company is still unsure what caused the contamination and said Jalisco employees are assisting local, state and federal inspectors.

The investigators are looking at company records, examining equipment and taking additional samples of cheeses. They said the investigation could take several weeks.

No Information on Source

“As of this morning, we have no information as to the possible sources of this bacteria,” McPherson said.

McPherson, who was flanked by company Vice President Mario Jaimes and Jalisco attorney Steve Gigliotti, said, “We have picked up 99% of all the cheese” distributed in California and other Western states.

In California, health officials expanded the cheese recall to all 58 counties.

Officials in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, where Jalisco products are also sold, announced that they were pulling the cheeses from grocery shelves. In Colorado and Oregon, distributors of the cheese pulled the products as well.

Although Jalisco products are distributed to other states, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has received no reports of listerosis elsewhere in the country, said Dr. Stephen Cochi, a medical epidemiologist with the agency.

No Houston Increase

Cochi said he was informed by the Houston Health Department that it was not aware of any increase in the number of cases of illness similar to listerosis.

However, because listerosis is rare and not among the diseases that clinicians are required to report to health authorities, a rise in the incidence of the illness is not easy to detect, Cochi said, considering that a low level of illnesses with flu-like symptoms is always present in large cities.

“It is necessary for authorities to detect a higher-than-normal rate, which is difficult when there is a constant on-going rate,” the physician said.

Jaimes estimated that the company produces about 500,000 pounds of cheese a month and said state inspectors visit the facility regularly.

80% in 2 Calif. Counties

McPherson said 80% of Jalisco’s products are distributed in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Word that the company is voluntarily closing its Artesia plant took Jalisco employees, many of them illegal aliens, by surprise. They stood in groups outside the plant today waiting to hear whether they would be paid.

McPherson told reporters that “right now they (workers) are being paid.”

Workers said they had been given two free Jalisco cheeses every weekend to take home to their families.

“We’ve been eating the cheese for years,” one employee said, “and nothing has ever happened to us or our children.”

McPherson said he had had no reports of workers becoming ill.

EXPANDED CHEESE RECALL LIST

Health officials initially linked two Jalisco brand cheeses to the bacterial infection responsible for the deaths of 28 people. Jalisco Mexican Products said today that it was recalling its entire line of dairy products. This is the revised list:

Label Product Jalisco Adovera Suelto Jalisco Adoveras Jalisco Asadero Horn Jalisco Asaderos Jalisco Baby Jack Horn Jalisco Cotija Jalisco Cotija Fresco Jalisco Cotija Seco Jalisco Cotija Wedge Jalisco Cotija Wheel Jalisco Crema Jalisco Enchilado Jalisco Enchilados Jalisco Jack Wheel Jalisco Jalapeno Jalisco Jocoque Jalisco Oaxaca Horn Jalisco Oxaca Jalisco Panela Jalisco Queso Chihuahua Jalisco Queso Fresco Jalisco Queso Fresco Blanco Jalisco Queso Fundido Jalisco Requeson Jalisco Requeson Suelto Jiminez Asadero Jiminez Cotija Jiminez Jalapeno Jiminez Queso Fresco La Vaquita Asadero La Vaquita Baby Jack La Vaquita Enchilado La Vaquita Jalapeno La Vaquita Panela La Vaquita Queso Fresco Guadalajara Asadero Guadalajara Cotija Guadalajara Cotija Seco Guadalajara Crema Mexicana Guadalajara Enchilado Guadalajara Jalapeno Guadalajara Jocoque Guadalajara Panela Guadalajara Queso Fresco