12 Illegal Aliens Arrested at Unlicensed Cheese Plants

Twelve illegal aliens were arrested for the illegal manufacture and sale of cheese in raids on three South-Central Los Angeles garages Thursday morning, culminating a six-month state investigation, police said.

No deaths or illnesses have been attributed to the cheese, investigators said, but they called the unlicensed--and consequently uninspected--cheese production a potential health threat. Forty deaths were attributed to contaminated cheese three years ago.

Los Angles Police Lt. Fred Reno said the garages, which appeared to be part of the same nameless company, were crammed with boxes and bags of Mexican-style soft cheese, crema , vats of unrefrigerated milk and equipment used to process milk into cheese, all of which authorities seized.

After milk was delivered to people living or renting homes at the addresses of the garages, Reno said, the cheese was processed there and then peddled by street vendors. No grocery stores are known to have purchased the products for resale, he said.

Cheese samples were taken to a state laboratory in San Bernardino to test for contamination--in particular the bacterium responsible for the listeria outbreak that three years ago poisoned 103 people and killed 40.

“Proper processing eliminates the culprit, Listeria monocytogenes, “ Reno said, “while illegal manufacture is a health threat--particularly to pregnant women, the elderly and those with deficient immune systems.”

Following the investigation by the state departments of Food and Agriculture and Health Services, the suspects were charged with violating both the Food and Agriculture and Health and Safety codes, felonies that carry a minimum penalty of one year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

The 1985 food poisoning epidemic, which authorities traced to a licensed manufacturer, Jalisco Mexican Products Inc. of Artesia, still baffles health and law enforcement officials.

Pleaded No Contest

Jalisco’s owner and chief cheese maker both pleaded no contest to misdemeanor criminal charges, and were sentenced to 30- and 60-day jail terms and fined a total of about $48,000. About 150 civil lawsuits were spawned by the outbreak, and a Superior Court trial is scheduled to start this month in which Jalisco is accusing its milk supplier, Alta-Dena Certified Dairy, of being the source of the contamination.

The earlier outbreak also resulted in tougher state and federal food inspection laws and a number of federal dairy food recalls. In California, new laws tightened dairy licensing and record-keeping requirements and the state Department of Food and Agriculture hired an undercover cheese plant investigator.

The garages raided Thursday were located at 315 W. 71st St., 730 E. 81st St. and 151 E. 82nd Place, police said.