State Cheese Inquiry Grows : Records Checked at Six More Processing Plants

Expanding their investigation, state auditors have been ordered into six California cheese-processing plants to examine milk purchasing and pasteurization records after a deadly bacterial outbreak linked to Jalisco-brand Mexican-style cheeses, it was disclosed Friday.

“All of the plants now will have those records checked, and they will then be forwarded to the (Los Angeles County) district attorney, wherever applicable,” state Food and Agriculture Department spokeswoman Jan Wessell said in Sacramento.

“They have to look at shipping supply records and see what came in and compare it to the pasteurizing capacity of the equipment,” Wessell added. “It’s all precautionary. It does not indicate impropriety on anybody’s part.”

Jalisco Audit

The move came after an audit at Jalisco Mexican Products Inc. determined that between April 1 and June 12 the amount of unpasteurized milk received at the company’s Artesia plant totaled nearly 700,000 pounds more than the amount of milk that went through its pasteurizing machine.

Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner said the discrepancies indicate Jalisco employees deliberately mixed unpasteurized milk in with their cheeses. He said a conspiracy may have existed inside the company to sell adulterated dairy products to the public.

Reiner’s office opened a criminal probe of Jalisco on Tuesday night, seizing 20 boxes of records. Prosecutors were busy Friday examining the documents. They expressed concern that employee time cards for only one week have been found. The investigators said it is important to have employee records for at least 120 days in order to determine staffing patterns at the plant.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths and stillbirths caused by the bacterial infection grew to at least 50 nationwide Friday as San Diego County health officials linked the death of a fetus to contaminated Jalisco-brand cheese.

A pregnant Ramona woman was seen by physicians at the University of California, San Diego, Medical Center because she had been feeling ill for a few days, said Dr. Michele S. Ginsberg, an epidemiologist with the San Diego Department of Health Services.

Linked to Bacterium

The fetus, in its 14th to 18th week of development, died Tuesday, Ginsberg said. Tests confirmed the fetus died from the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, which is present in the contaminated Jalisco cheese, she said.

County health officials have also linked the death of a newborn infant May 14 to Jalisco-brand cheese. The premature infant of a San Ysidro woman died three minutes after it was born, said Dr. Donald G. Ramras, San Diego County public health officer.

Wessell said state and federal agencies have found the Listeria bacterium in some cheeses made by Jalisco but have not found the source of the contamination.

An enzyme associated with unpasteurized milk turned up in two packages of queso blanco fresco cheese manufactured by Cacique Cheese Co. in the City of Industry. Cacique promptly recalled three types of cheeses nationwide as a precaution.

The state Food and Agriculture Department plans to audit Cacique, Ariza Cheese Co. in Paramount, Green Valley Foods in Barstow, Lagunas Cheese Co. in Sacramento and Marquez Bros. Mexican Imports and Ventura Imports in San Jose.

‘Nothing to Hide’

“They called and said they were coming in this weekend and to have all my milk bills and pasteurization charts available,” said Ausencio Ariza Jr., vice president of Ariza Cheese Co. “I have no problems. I have nothing to hide.”

Ariza said state inspectors have been in his plant for five days taking samples, testing for phosphatase, an enzyme found in unpasteurized milk.

“I heard verbally I passed the phosphatase test, but I haven’t been given the results,” he said.

Ariza said the inspectors ordered him to make minor sanitary improvements in his operation this week and also sampled each batch of cheese that was produced. He said inspectors studied his entire cheese processing, from the time the milk arrived at the plant until it was packaged.

Roger Ventura, a spokesman for Ventura Imports, said recent inspections there were an “inconvenience, but one we must endure for the safety of the community.”