Food Alert – (*updated on 5 June 2015) French raw sheep’s milk cheese suspected to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes
| Issue Date | 2015-05-07 | |
| Source of Information | Notification from the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) of the European Commission | |
| Food Product | Raw sheep’s milk cheese | |
| Name of Importer | ||
| Product name and Description | Product name: Raw milk cheese from sheep “PERAIL” Place of origin: France Manufacture date: between March 15 and April 2, 2015 Best before dates: May 23, 29 or 30, 2015 |
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| Reason For Issuing Alert | – The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) received a notification from the RASFF that certain batches of PERAIL raw sheep’s milk cheese were found to have been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The French producer concerned has initiated a recall of all batches of all specialties of the product produced between the aforesaid dates. According to the information provided by the RASFF, a small volume of the affected product has been imported into Hong Kong.
– Listeria monocytogenes can be easily destroyed by cooking but can survive and multiply at refrigerator temperature. Most healthy individuals do not develop symptoms or only have mild symptoms like fever, muscle pain, headache, nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea when infected. However, severe complications such as septicemia, meningitis or even death may occur in newborns, elderly and those with a weaker immune system. Although infected pregnant women may just experience mild symptoms generally, the infection of Listeria monocytogenes may cause miscarriage, infant death, preterm birth, or severe infection in the newborns. *Updated information on 5 June 2015: – On 4 June 2015, CFS received updates from The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of France that the notification was withdrawn because the bacteria detected in the cheese concerned had been proven to be Listeria ivanovii, which does not justify the conclusion that these products are dangerous according to European regulations. The recalled products were therefore returned to the market. Listeria ivanovii is known to cause disease predominantly in ruminants. |
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