This news broke today on MSNBC. It is a clear example of what may happen when we import products from countries that do not have the same production, health and inspection standards as we have here in the USA or when illegal, uncertified consumer products are smuggled across the borders:

Tainted cheese fuels TB rise in California
By JoNel Aleccia
Health writer
MSNBC
updated 5:37 a.m. PT, Wed., June. 4, 2008

A rare form of tuberculosis caused by illegal, unpasteurized dairy products, including the popular queso fresco cheese, is rising among Hispanic immigrants in Southern California and raising fears about a resurgence of a strain all but eradicated in the U.S.

Cases of the Mycobacterium bovis strain of TB have increased in San Diego county, particularly among children who drink or eat dairy foods made from the milk of infected cattle, a study in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases shows.

But the germ can infect anyone who eats contaminated fresh cheeses sold by street vendors, smuggled across the Mexican border or produced by families who try to make a living selling so-called “bathtub cheeseâ€