When the Shit Hit the Cheese

There has been a lot of discussion on FaceBook about two recent recalls of artisan cheese, one by Bravo Farms in California’s Central Valley and the other, perhaps more serious, by Sally Jackson Cheeses of Oroville, Washington.   Bravo Farms, which produces my favorite California Cheddar, “Silver Mountain”, is not tiny, but is small by any modern standard of a food production plant.  Bravo suffered a recall when the California Department of Food and Agriculture found both Listeria monocytogenes and E.Coli O157:H7 at their plant.  Cheeses were recalled even though, to date, no one has been confirmed to have gotten ill from eating their cheese.  The later FDA report of Bravo shows twelve separate dates when a team of three inspectors visited Bravo over a 26 day period and found numerous – though I must say rather minor – violations. Sally Jackson Cheeses has a far more serious problem, because their cheeses have sickened at least 8 people with the very serious E.Coli O157:H7.  As is evidences by both the photos on Jackson’s web site and the descriptions of the facilities in the FDA report, this is a tiny, ill-equipped “Mom & Pop” operation.  The FDA report is rather shocking in the number and nature of violations for which Jackson was cited.

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