Sargento Cheese Recalls 7 Types of Cheese in August or September 2017-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Sargento Cheese recalled seven types of cheese in August or September 2017 for listeria contamination; consumers have been warned that eating recalled Sargento Cheese products “could kill your family.”
The Truth:
Sargento Cheese didn’t recall any products due to listeria contamination in August or September of 2017. Those false warnings were based on an outdated recall from February 2017.
The false cheese recall warning started with an article that appeared at HealthyFoodTeam.com in early September 2017. The article, which appeared under the headline, “Breaking: America’s Most Popular Cheese Recalled … Immediately Throw it Away, This Can Kill Your Family,” begins:
It’s time to check your fridges. Sargento Foods Inc. has just issued a massive recall of seven cheeses due to a potential contamination from listeria monocytogenes. The company confirms no illnesses have been reported yet. Listeriosis is a serious infection contracted by eating food contaminated with bacteria. An estimated 1,600 people get infected each year—and about 260 die. The bacteria is most harmful to pregnant women, newborns, adults aged 65 or older, and people with weakened immune systems.
The FDA’s website lists all recalls, market withdrawals and safety alerts in a helpful database on its website. It’s a good idea to check warnings about food recalls there, especially those you hear about via Facebook. In this case, there were no Sargento Cheese recalls in August or September 2017.
Digging a little deeper, however, Sargento Cheese did issue a product recall in February 2017 over listeria contamination. It appears that the false recall warning in September 2017 was based on the outdated recall alert from February because they list the same seven cheeses being recalled.
After reports of the Sargento recall continued to spread in September 2017, Sargento clarified in a statement that no product recalls had been issued at the time: