Bleating Heart Cheese (BHC) is expanding its voluntary recall notice of December 17, 2014 to cover all of its sheep milk, goat milk, water buffalo milk and cows milk cheese produced between February 14, 2014 (coded as 14–0214) and September 19, 2014 (coded as 14-0919) due to an abundance of caution concerning the possibility of Listeria monocytogenes being present in some cheese (see below for a complete list). The codes on the botto label of all Bleating Heart cheese represent “Year-Month & Day of the Month” when the cheese was produced. At this time, no illnesses have been reported. Consumers that still have the recalled Bleating Heart cheese in their refrigerators should discard it in amanner so it is not consumed.
- “Buff Ewe Blue” and “Buff Blue” – natural rind, blue-style cheese, aged 3 – 4months
- “Double Down Blue” – natural rind, blue-style cheese, aged 3 – 4 months with a double heart imprint on the rind
- “Ewelicious Blue” – natural rind, blue-style cheese, aged 2 – 3 months
- “Fat Bottom Girl” – natural rind, aged 2 – 3months
- “Funky Beats” – washed rind, aged 2-3 months. Note: this cheese has been sold out for some time and is not likely to be in themarket place
- “Goldette Tommette” – natural rind, aged 2 – 3months
- “Mixtress” – natural rind, aged 2 – 3months
- “Moolicious Blue” – natural rind blue-style cheese, aged 3-4months
- “Shepherdista” – natural rind, aged 2-3months
Pictures of all of the cheese labels can be found at the end of this notice. More detailed information on all of the Bleating Heart cheeses can be found at http://www.bleatingheart.com/cheese
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Listeria monocytogenes is a bacteria which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, pregnant women and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages, stillbirths and fetal infection among pregnant women. Consumers should contact their physician if they exhibit any of the listed symptoms.
The cheeses listed were sold to distributors servicing the California as well as Pennsylvania areas who in-turn sold to retail food shops, restaurants and stores. Anyone that has distributed the cheese identified above needs to immediately notify their customers of the voluntary recall and encourage them to destroy any identified cheese based on instructions from Bleating Heart Cheese. Any of the above cheese still in a distributor’s inventory needs to be isolated/quarantined and prepared for return to Bleating Heart Cheese, which will provide a full refund upon receipt of the cheese and verification of its identity.
The recall is being conducted with the knowledge of the US Food and Drug Administration. If you have any questions or seek additional information, please call 858-472-1754 during our normal hours of operations (Monday-Friday 9:00am-4:00pm PST) or email us at dave@bleatingheart.com.
Source: FDA