FDA Sweep of E. coli Cheese Makers Includes Confiscation at Bravo Farms
E. coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes were found in stocks of Bravo Farms cheese recalled in connection with last year's Bravo Farms Gouda cheese E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that sickened 38 people who bought or sample cheese at Costco stores in Arizona, Colorado, California, New Mexico and Nevada.
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In addition, state and federal investigators found conditions at Bravo Farms, based in Traver, California, that were not food safe: a colony of flies in a processing area, bare-handed cheese processing, improper handling of equipment, containers and utensils, a rabbit inside the facility and pests. Of the 24 unpasteurized cheese samples investigators took, 15 tested positive for Listeria and one tested positive for E. coli O157:H7.
In a complaint filed with the the Eastern District of California, FDA authorities said the facilities at artisan cheese company Bravo Farms are ripe for cross-contamination and "not of suitable size, construction, and design to facilitate maintenance and sanitary operations for food manufacturing purposes."
The federal court sanctioned a seizure by federal agents of more than 80,000 pounds of recalled Bravo Farms cheese to ensure it is destroyed. The confiscation included 97 wedges of raw-milk Gouda cheese of the type recalled because of the outbreak.
John Sheehan, director of the FDA's dairy division, told the Los Angeles Times that the actions are part of an FDA review of artisan cheese makers. He said the inspections came from concerns "about raw-milk cheese made under artisanal conditions" and a flurry of nine artisan cheese recalls last year, including at least two that were associated with outbreaks. As of October, the FDA had inspected 102 facilities, some big, some small. Of the 147 samples taken, 32 tested positive for Listeria, the Times reported. The inspections continue.
Bravo Farms Lawsuit
The cheese-making conditions at Bravo Farms are important to a cheese E. coli lawsuit filed against Bravo Farms and Costco by national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., with assistance from local counsel in Arizona. E. coli lawyers at Pritzker Olsen represent seven victims of the Gouda E. coli outbreak, including four members of the same family who suffered infections from contaminated raw milk Dutch Style Gouda cheese from the Costco store in Glendale, Arizona, last fall.
Our firm is conducting its own investigation and continues to accept new cases from those who were made ill. E. coli O157:H7 is a strain of E. coli that produces large quantities of a potent toxin that damage the intestine and a person's red blood cells with potentially fatal health consequences. Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is the leading cause of E. coli death and the leading cause of kidney failure in children worldwide.
If you or a loved one were sickened after eating Bravo Farms cheese, contact our office for a free case consultation at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or by completing our E. coli lawsuit contact form.
