U.S. Listeriosis Check Planned
Baffled by recurring outbreaks of listeriosis in the United States, federal health officials said Thursday that a nationwide monitoring program will be set up to combat the bacteria that was linked last year to as many as 40 deaths from tainted Mexican-style soft cheese in California’s biggest food-poisoning epidemic.
Details of the program have not been formalized, but Dr. Ken Schwartz of the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said that monitoring in all 50 states will replace the sample monitoring now conducted in six regions of the country, including Los Angeles County.
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that consumers in 10 states may have an imported semi-soft cheese in their refrigerators that contains the potentially lethal Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.
The FDA is searching for 56 wheels of Morbier Rippoz, a French cheese, which come from a lot that may contain the bacteria.
The states involved are New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, Texas, Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts.
Based on current samplings, health officials estimate that 500 to 1,000 cases of listeriosis occur in the United States each year.
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