Raw cheddar sold in 12 states is recalled for a possible Listeria risk

A block of raw cheddar bought from a cheese case in Vermont, Virginia or Tennessee may be part of a recall that now reaches every package the maker has dated 10/16/27 or earlier. Family Farmstead Dairy of Worcester, New York, announced on Nov. 10 that it is pulling its Raw Mild Cheddar and Raw Sharp Cheddar over possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. It is the second raw cheddar recall from the company in less than a month.

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The twelve states and the packages involved

The recalled cheese is sold in 8-ounce plastic-wrapped packages, and the best-by date is printed on the back label. Every lot code dated 10/16/27 and prior is included, which makes the recall a blanket one across both flavors rather than a single batch. The company said no other Family Farmstead Dairy products are part of it unless the company names them specifically.

According to the FDA’s posting of the company announcement, the cheese was distributed in twelve states: New York, New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee. The list runs from New England down through the mid-Atlantic and into the upper South, a pattern consistent with regional natural-foods and specialty retail rather than national grocery chains.

No illnesses were reported in the announcement, and the notice does not say how the possible contamination was found. Readers who look for a test result, an inspection finding or an outbreak link will not find one in it. The company has not said whether the concern traces to finished cheese, the production environment or something else.

The notice does not explain the choice of a blanket scope. A recall of every date code typically signals that a maker could not tie the concern to one production run, though the company has not said that is the case here. For shoppers the practical effect is simple: with no lot to isolate, any 8-ounce raw mild or raw sharp package carrying a date through 10/16/27 belongs in the recall, however recently it was bought.

A second recall weeks after the E. coli notice

The Listeria recall follows an earlier one. As Medical Daily’s account of the new recall recounts, the company recalled one lot of Raw Mild Cheddar on Oct. 15, with a lot code and best-by date of 7/22/27, after testing found Shiga toxin-producing E. coli. That problem surfaced in a Maryland sample tested under an FDA state-testing program, which found two E. coli strains in the dairy’s A2 Raw Cheddar.

The first notice had errors that were later fixed. It originally named E. coli O157:H7 and listed two states, and a corrected notice changed the strains to O26:H11 and O45:H2 and listed seven states. Early coverage such as ABC7’s report on the E. coli recall and a Food Poisoning Bulletin post captured the original wording. No illnesses were reported in that recall either.

The new action is far broader. It adds sharp cheddar, takes in every package up to the 10/16/27 date, extends from seven states to twelve, and names a different pathogen. Whether the two problems share a cause is unanswered in anything the company has published.

Listeria, raw milk and who should be careful

Listeria differs from many food germs because it grows at refrigerator temperatures, so a package that has sat in a cold case or a home fridge for weeks can still carry a growing population. The CDC’s overview of Listeria infection describes the illness, listeriosis, as serious mainly for specific groups. Medical Daily lists the highest-risk people as pregnant people, newborns, adults 65 and older, and people with weakened immune systems.

For a healthy adult the illness is often mild, with fever and muscle aches, but in pregnancy it can cause miscarriage or stillbirth. The agency’s prevention guidance is where the standard advice on cold-chain handling and high-risk foods lives, and raw-milk cheeses are among those it flags.

Timing is another reason for caution with a Listeria notice. Symptoms of listeriosis can begin the same day as a contaminated meal or as long as ten weeks afterward, so someone who ate the cheese in September could still fall ill in November. Raw-milk cheese is also a category with its own federal rule, since cheese made from unpasteurized milk is generally required to be aged at least 60 days, an aging step that lowers risk without removing it. With the company still silent on the cause, the regulatory and the practical position are the same: the cheese comes back, and anyone in a higher-risk group who ate some should watch for fever, muscle aches or stomach upset and tell a clinician about the exposure.

The company’s instructions to customers are brief. Return the cheese to the store for a refund, or call Family Farmstead Dairy at (607) 397-4044 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or email [email protected]. Checking the back label for a date of 10/16/27 or earlier takes seconds, and every such package is covered.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.