Crave Brothers cheese, which has been linked to a Listeria outbreak that has sickened at least five people in four states killing one of them, was sold at Whole Foods and Kroger stores nationwide and dozens of other regional grocery stores in: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Some restaurants also served the cheese.
Kroger is recalling Les Freres Cheese in Murray’s Cheese Shops **2252; and Crave Brothers Farmstead Classics – Les Freres Cheese Wheel **2260. The Kroger stores affected are Dillons, Baker’s, Fred Meyer, Ralphs, QFC and Gerbes stores located in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
Consumers who have purchased Les Frères cheese made by Crave Brothers Farmstead Classics LLC, based in Waterloo, WI should not eat it. Children, seniors and pregnant women are at special risk. Among pregnant women, who may experience mild, flu-like symptoms, a Listeria infection can cause miscarriage, stillbirth and premature delivery.
Symptoms of listeriosis, which can take up to 70 days after exposure to develop, include fever, stiff neck, muscle aches and headache. Sometimes there is also confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions. Anyone who has eaten the cheese and has these symptoms should see a doctor.
Health officials in Minnesota, where two people who ate the cheese became ill and one of them died, report that the cheese has been linked to illnesses in at least three other states. This means laboratory testing has identified a Listeria strain with the same “genetic fingerprint” in each of these cases. State health authorities are working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
