Vulto Creamery ordered to shut down after listeria outbreak
The source of a 2017 listeria outbreak, Vulto Creamery’s Walton, New York, operations have been shut down by a federal court. The company has been ordered by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York not to manufacture its ready-to-eat aged soft, semi-soft, and hard cheeses until it complies with food safety regulations.
Vulto Creamery cannot prepare, process, manufacture, pack and/or hold FDA-regulated food products until they can ensure that the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes is not present in their facility and their food. The company was identified as the source of a listeria outbreak last year that caused eight cases of illness and two deaths.
Numerous food safety issues were found at Vulto Creamery when it was pinpointed as the source of the food poisoning cases. Since then, however, the company has not taken the steps necessary to identify potential issues within its facility that contributed to the listeria contamination. For example, Vulto did not attempt to identify the type of listeria or its sources after positive test results at the facility and it did not conduct microbial testing on its cheese products after discovering listeria on food surfaces.
The FDA found that Vulto’s cheese products were prepared, packed and/or held under unsanitary conditions and the food may have become contaminated with filth or otherwise be harmful to health. Vulto Creamery cannot resume operations until it has retained an independent laboratory to collect and analyze environmental and finished samples for the presence of L. mono, retained an independent expert and developed a program to control L. mono, and eliminated unsanitary conditions at its facility.
Listeriosis, an infection that causes fever, gastrointestinal symptoms, and muscle aches, is caused by the consumption of food contaminated by bacterium Listeria monocytogenes and is considered a public health concern. If you consumed cheese products manufactured by Vulto Creamery and became ill, you may want to contact a food poisoning lawyer. For more information about food poisoning, call 1-888-335-4901.
