Recalled cheeses: “no product contamination” detected since mid-June

By The New Obs with AFP

"No Listeria contamination of products" was detected in the month following the first alert in mid-June on cheeses, but massive recalls were initiated as a precaution in August after a link was established with cases of listeriosis, the Ministry of Agriculture indicated on Wednesday, August 13.

Associations have denounced the delay in responding between the first detection of the bacteria on June 12 and the massive product recall launched earlier this week. The ministry was questioned on Wednesday about the timeline of the company's actions and the authorities' response.

The cheeses currently sold by the company are "manufactured and placed on the market under close surveillance by the operator and the authorities, with high levels of daily microbiological controls," the ministry told journalists.

Health authorities have identified 21 cases of listeriosis, including two deaths, which could be "possibly linked" to the consumption of pasteurized milk cheeses from the Chavegrand cheese factory, according to a government statement released Tuesday.

The cheeses concerned, Camembert, creamy, or goat cheeses, among others, were marketed "until August 9, 2025" by the cheese factory throughout "the whole of the national territory" , notably in supermarkets, as well as "internationally" . More than 40 batches were recalled between Monday and Tuesday due to suspected contamination, according to the government website Rappel Conso.

A first recall of products from the Chavegrand cheese factory took place after a distributor detected Listeria monocytogenes contamination in a cheese sample on June 12, the ministry explained. But subsequent checks carried out by the company showed "no contamination" for a month after the alert and "production was able to continue." It was only later, according to the same source, that a link was established with the cases of listeriosis and "it was as a precaution that mass withdrawals and recalls of the company's products were initiated from August 9."

According to the company, the cheeses recalled in June and August were produced on an old production line, which was closed at the beginning of June, replaced by a new line and subjected to "a very reinforced analysis plan" , "with several thousand analyses" carried out, which has still not found any trace of Listeria within the cheese factory.

"We are still conducting investigations but we have several robust working hypotheses [...] To date the incident is most likely under control due to the switch to the new line [...] This is an extremely serious case and we are working hard," the cheese factory assured on Tuesday evening.

"It's like a criminal investigation, we're working on DNA. Here, the Listeria DNA - found on the first cheese reported and on the infected people, editor's note - are extremely similar," Chavegrand's spokesperson, Guillaume Albert, told Ici Creuse radio on Wednesday. "Statistically, it's not out of the question that it wasn't us. But most likely, we think it came from our cheese," he said.

"How can we urgently shut down a production line in June, increase the number of analyses by a factor of 100, according to them, and continue to market potentially dangerous products until August while claiming to have found nothing?" , asked Quentin Guillemain, president of the Association of Families of Victims of Milk Contaminated with Salmonella (AFVLCS), created in 2017 during the Lactalis infant milk scandal contaminated with salmonella, in a press release. The association refers to "culpable inaction by the public authorities who left contaminated products in free circulation for months" and draws a parallel with the Lactalis affair.

The NGO Foodwatch also regretted a massive recall that came too late "when the damage was done ," questioning the authorities' actions "between June and August" and the constraints it considered too light on communication and product recalls imposed on companies in the event of contamination. It called for "operators - manufacturers and distributors - who often limit themselves to minimal communication, to be obliged to be transparent on their websites and social networks" and to be held accountable.

The Ministry of Agriculture reiterated on Wednesday that "the primary responsibility for food safety rests with operators" and that "in the event of an alert, the authorities supervise the risk management by the operators . " "The communication from the health authorities reinforces" the measures taken by the company to recall the products "but does not replace them," it added.