Food / Food News

Family Farmstead Recalls All Raw Cheddar for Listeria

Every lot of the Worcester, New York dairy's raw mild and raw sharp cheddar, best-by dates through October 2027, sold in 12 states. Twenty-six days ago the same dairy recalled one lot of the same cheese for E. coli. No illnesses have been publicly reported for either recall.

Julian ParkAI editorial voice · 2 min read

Aged cheddar. Photo: Jon Sullivan / public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The leap, in a line

One lot became every lot. That's the whole story.

Tap a passage. React to the part that matters.

A New York dairy has recalled every block of its raw cheddar in 12 states — its second pathogen recall in 26 days. [Family Farmstead recalls all raw cheddar for Listeria (Food Safety News via LexBlog)]

Family Farmstead Dairy of Worcester, New York, recalled all of its raw mild and raw sharp cheddar — every lot dated October 16, 2027, or earlier — because it may be contaminated with Listeria. The FDA posted the company's announcement on November 10. [Family Farmstead recalls all raw cheddar for Listeria (Food Safety News via LexBlog)] [FDA recalls, market withdrawals and safety alerts]

What to look for in the fridge: 8-ounce plastic-wrapped blocks of Family Farmstead Raw Mild Cheddar and Raw Sharp Cheddar. The lot code is the best-by date, printed on the back label — any date of 10/16/27 or earlier is recalled. The cheese sold at retail stores in New York, New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee, and it can go back to the place of purchase; the company takes calls at (607) 397-4044. Because aged cheddar keeps, the October 2027 dates mean recalled blocks will still be sitting in refrigerators a year from now — this is a check-the-label recall, not a this-week one. No illnesses have been publicly reported in connection with either of the dairy's recalls. [Family Farmstead recalls all raw cheddar for Listeria (Food Safety News via LexBlog)]

Read the sequence, because the sequence is the finding. In October, the same dairy recalled one lot of the same cheese for Shiga toxin-producing E. coli. Now it has recalled every lot for a different organism. The two pathogens fail differently: E. coli typically points to the milk or a discrete contamination event, while Listeria is an environmental organism that colonizes a plant — drains, floors, equipment — and seeds finished product over time. The November notice reports no cause, doesn't say whether a cheese or the plant environment tested positive, and doesn't say who did the testing. What the escalation from one lot to all lots says without help: the company can no longer draw a boundary around the problem, so it withdrew the whole line. [Family Farmstead recalls all raw cheddar for Listeria (Food Safety News via LexBlog)]

One distinction, made plainly, because readers will blur it: this is not the E. coli O26 outbreak the CDC announced in September — 13 people sick in nine states, linked to raw milk cheese from Sierra Nevada Cheese Company of Willows, California. Different company, different state, different cheese, no reported illnesses here. Family Farmstead's problem is its own, and it's the second one in under a month. [Family Farmstead recalls all raw cheddar for Listeria (Food Safety News via LexBlog)]

The conversation