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Whole Foods Recalls Raw Goat Milk Cheese

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

Whole Foods Thursday recalled Morningland Dairy and Ozark Hills Farm Raw Goat Milk Mild Cheddar Cheese for possible contamination with Listeria and Staphylococcus aureus.
No illnesses have yet been associated with the recall.
The contamination was discovered during routine regulatory sampling.   The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Missouri Milk Board, and Mountainview, MO-based Morningland Dairy are cooperating in the investigation.
The recalled raw goat milk cheeses were sold in three Whole Foods Market stores: West Hartford Center and Glastonbury, CT; and Hadley, MA. 
The cheese is packaged in plastic labeled with a Whole Foods scale label and sold as random weight size retail packages in the cheese department.
The North Atlanta Region of Whole Foods issued the recall for the natural and organic food retailer.
It said customers who have purchased these products from Whole Foods Market may return them to the store for a full refund. Signs have also been posted in stores to notify customers.
Whole Foods ceased selling raw milk in bulk last March, but continues to sell cheeses containing unpasteurized milk.
Consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections.
Symptoms include high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.
Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. 
Staphylococcus aureus is a bacteria that usually causes rapid food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, retching, abdominal cramping and prostration. 
In more severe cases, headache, muscle cramping and transient changes in blood pressure and pulse may occur.
Whole Foods employs 55,000 in more than 280 stores across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.   Its sales last year topped $8 billion.  

Full post as published by Food Safety News on September 03, 2010 (boomark / email).