The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a new report on the multistate outbreak of listeriosis linked to Crave Brothers soft-ripened cheese in the summer of 2013. The Minnesota Department of Health notified the CDC about the outbreak on June 27, 2013, when two patients with invasive Listeria monocytogenes infections were sickened with Listeria bacteria that had indistinguishable PFGE patterns.
The outbreak, which sickened six people, killed one person, and caused one miscarriage, was linked to one of three varieties of Crave Brothers cheese, including Les Frères, Petit Frère, or Petit Frère with truffles. Three patients bought the cheese at three different restaurants; two purchased the cheese at two different grocery stores. The cheeses had been purchased as intact wheels and were served or repackaged at the restaurants and stores.
Testing by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture identified the outbreak strain of the bacteria in two cheese wedges purchased from two different grocery stores in Minnesota. Inspections of the cheese-making facility revealed that “substantial sanitation deficiencies during the cheese-making process itself, after the milk was pasteurized, likely led to contamination.” Production at the Crave Brothers facility was hated on July 1, and the cheeses were recalled on July 3, 2013.
The patients lived in Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Texas. The person who died lived in Minnesota. The outbreak is now over.
