The FDA has released their Form 483 (PDF), detailing several alarming and insanitary practices at Sally Jackson Cheese’s manufacturing facility that likely contributed to the current raw cheese E. coli O157:H7 outbreak among Washington, Oregon, Vermont, and Minnesota residents.

Among the more egregious findings:

  • The owner was observed throughout the day doing such things as stirring

This morning, Phyllis Entis of eFoodAlert.com posted an interesting article on the Montefiore Cheese Salmonella recall that has occurred in Austrialia, Tazmania, and New Zealand.  Ms. Entis’s issue with the conduct of the recall seems to be delays in product testing that revealed the contamination, and dissemination of that critical information to the food-consuming public. 

Another recall today (actually, the queso fresco recall was announced yesterday, but expanded upon today by the FDA).  This one concerns cheese (queso fresco soft mexican cheese) due to potential contamination by listeria monocytogenes.  The FDA’s cheese recall announcement states as follows:

Del Bueno of Grandview, WA is recalling all size packages of Queso

cheese recallThe Indiana State Board of Animal Health’s Dairy Division warned consumers not to consume cheeses made from raw milk at the Grassy Meadows Dairy of Howe, Indiana, after testing conducted on the cheeses revealed high levels of staphylococcus aureus (staph) contamination in several samples of the cheeses that were produced before Wednesday.

The Board of