Thread: Grocery Chain Will Pay Thousands For Bad Cheese

Bathtub cheese returns!

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Grocery Chain Will Pay Thousands For Bad Cheese
Salmonella Outbreak In San Diego Prompts Investigation



San Diego County health officials are reminding
consumers to avoid buying illegal cheese that
is sold by unlicensed vendors door to door, on
street corners and in parking lots.


POSTED: 2:40 pm PST November 29, 2005
UPDATED: 4:06 pm PST November 29, 2005

SAN DIEGO -- A settlement was reached with the owners of a market chain for selling soft Mexican cheese, known as queso fresco, it was announced Tuesday.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said the owners of Rodeo's Meat Markets, Salvador and Noemi Linares of San Marcos, agreed to pay $190,500 in penalties and investigation costs without admitting wrongdoing.

The allegations involved seven Rodeo's Markets in Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos, National City, El Cajon and two in San Diego.

An investigation was launched in May 2004, after inspectors from the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health found cheese for sale at the Oceanside location that was from an unapproved source and made from milk that was not pasteurized, Dumanis said.

"When a salmonella outbreak that spread across the county in 2004 was determined by the Health Department to have been caused by this popular soft cheese, we formed a task force," she said. "We worked together to respond immediately to reports of street vendors selling queso fresco and prosecuted them when appropriate."

The task force was made up of representatives from the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health, the California Department of Food & Agriculture, the San Diego City Attorney's Office and the San Diego County District Attorney's Office.

The agreement reached in San Diego Superior Court prohibits the chain of Rodeo's Markets from buying queso fresco from unapproved sources and requires that the stores commit no additional health code violations, eliminate unsanitary conditions and improve employee practices.

To report an illegal cheese vendor, consumers can call (619) 338-2283.

OH NO! NOT BATHTUB CHEESE AGAIN!

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metr ... heese.html

Markets to pay $200,000 in illegal Mexican cheese case


By Debbi Farr Baker
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

1:00 p.m. November 29, 2005

SAN DIEGO – Seven markets accused of selling illegal Mexican cheese agreed to stop selling the unapproved product and to pay almost $200,000 in penalties and costs in a settlement announced Tuesday by District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.

The owners of Rodeo Meat Markets also were required to ensure their stores had no other health violations or unsanitary conditions and to improve their employees' health practices.

The business runs markets in Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos, National City, El Cajon and in the San Diego neighborhood of Chollas View.

After a spike in salmonella cases in 2004, the San Diego County of Environmental Health found that people were getting sick from a popular Mexican cheese called queso fresco.

Additional investigations found that the Rodeo markets were selling that same type of cheese, which had been brought over the border from Mexico and was made from unpasteurized or raw milk.

Gary Erbeck, director of the county's Department of Environmental Health, called the settlement "a huge victory for public health in San Diego county."

"Illegal cheese can make you sick and, in some cases, it can kill you," he said.

Erbeck said the cheese was heavily contaminated with salmonella bacteria and that removing it from public consumption prevented more disease, disability and death.

"Safe food is not an accident," Dumanis said. "Store owners need to know that if they don't abide by the laws we will go after them."

Queso fresco, "fresh cheese" in Spanish, is one of the most popular and common cheeses used in Mexican fare and is often used as a crumbled topping for refried beans and salads, or as a filling for hot dishes. The mildly salty white cheese is similar in look and texture to farmer's cheese and does not melt when it is heated.

It is also called "bathtub cheese" because it is frequently made at home in bathtubs or wooden vats without proper health guidelines, using unpasteurized or raw milk that can contain harmful bacteria.

San Diego County health officials issued warnings about buying homemade queso fresco in February after eight people who had eaten it came down with food poisoning. All the victims had bought the cheese from unlicensed vendors.

In 2004, 50 people in the county got food poisoning after eating the cheese and at least 32 cases of salmonella were reported.

Symptoms are flu-like and include fever, stomach pains and diarrhea. The illness can be especially harmful to the young, the elderly and pregnant women.

County health officials urged consumers not to buy cheese from a street vendor and, when buying it in a market, to make sure it's properly packaged and labeled. They said most of the illegal product does not have labels.