Homestead Creamery Declares Recall on “Unsalted” Butter for Potential Listeria Monocytogenes Contamination
Over the past two months the number of food recalls published by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has drastically decreased. This is due to the administration’s decision to cut back on food inspections, in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and to insure the safety of food inspection employees. In early March, the FDA announced the suspension of international food inspection services, with the exception of “mission critical cases”, until further evaluation in April. Shortly afterwards, on March 18, the FDA announced even greater food safety cut-backs- the suspension of “all domestic routine surveillance facility inspections”, with the exception of “for-cause inspections”. Consequently, the FDA has posted very few food recalls in the past two months.
Nevertheless, many individual company’s, such as Homestead Creamery Inc of Wirtz, VA, continue to perform food safety inspections on their own products.
On April 1, 2020, Homestead Creamery announced a recall on its “unsalted” butter due to potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. The FDA published this voluntary recall on April 17. The Listeria contamination was detected during one such routine food safety testing conducted by Homestead Creamery Inc. The company says the product of concern comes in ½ pound quantities with plastic packaging, marked with the expiration date of 04/30. The products of concern have been distributed to partners through their home delivery service and their retail store.
There have been no reported cases of illness related to this recall.
Listeria monocytogenes are a type of bacteria which can cause moderate to severe gastrointestinal illness which is transmitted through contaminated food, and referred to as Listeriosis. The most common symptoms of Listeriosis are fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, cramps and diarrhea. Listeriosis does not usually pose a threat to otherwise healthy individuals. However, it can be extremely dangerous for those with weakened immune systems or expectant mothers- as it can lead to miscarriage.
Consumers who have purchased Homestead Creamery “unsalted” butter are advised to return it to its place of purchase for a full refund.
