CO Costco Cheese E. coli Recall Expanded
There have been two E. coli cheese recalls at Colorado Costco stores this month — gouda and gorgonzola — and the latter recall has been expanded. But it is the Gouda recall that health officials believe caused a five-state E. coli outbreak.
Costco in Colorado first recalled Bravo Farms Dutch Style Gouda cheese after a public health investigation preliminarily linked it to an outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 in Colorado, Arizona, California, Nevada and New Mexico. The outbreak has led to cheese E. coli lawsuits.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 33 illnesses in the Costco Gouda E. coli outbreak, including 10 in Colorado and 15 in Arizona. All together, 15 people have been hospitalized and one person’s infection advanced into hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a disease that can cause kidney and other organ damage. HUS is the leading cause of E. coli deaths.
The second recall stemmed from the Gouda E. coli outbreak investigation when a sample of Mauri brand gorgonzola tested positive for a different strain of E. coli 0157:H7 that so far has not been associated with any illnesses. The Mauri gorgonzola was only sold at Costco Colorado stores and the initial recall focused on two production dates. But a new Associated Press story quotes the brand’s distributor — DPI Specialty Foods of Tualatin, Ore. — as saying the recalled cheese now covers clear plastic packages of 1-pound wedges with sell-by dates of Jan. 2 through Jan 27. The packages carry a white sticker that reads: “Distributed by DPI Specialty Foods Tualatin, Ore., ITALY 34449.”
If you or a loved one has suffered gastrointestinal illness after eating gouda or gorgonzola cheese purchased or sampled at Costco in Colorado, Arizona, southern California, New Mexico or Nevada, contact a physician immediately to be examined for possible E. coli 0157:H7 infection. For answers to legal questions about your rights as a victim of food poisoning, contact PritzkerOlsen, P.A., for a free case consultation at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete the contact form on the side of this Web page. An E. coli attorney at Pritzker has been in contact with victims of this outbreak and the firm has been conducting its own investigation of how a deadly pathogen contaminated the cheese and whether safe food practices were followed according to regulation.
Tags: Cheese E. coli, Colorado E. coli
