Wiltshire-based cheesemaker The Old Cheese Room has been forced to recall its range of baronet cheeses after listeria monocytogenes were found in some batches.
The supplier has had to recall the 1kg Baronet Soft Cheese, its 200g Baby Baronet Soft Cheese and its 270g Mini Baronet Soft Cheese due to presence of the bacteria.
The brand said the outbreak had made real one of its “worst fears”.
“These were sales we had made to wholesalers, retailers and market customers,” said founder Julianna Sedli in a statement on The Old Cheese Room’s website. “We have been busy recalling the products and assessing where things went wrong.”
The company said batches 21/12 Baronet, 11/01 Baronet, 12/01 Baronet, 16/01 Baby Baronet and 18/01 Mini Baronet and Baronet had been affected, with the best before dates 31/3/23, 11/04/23, 12/04/23, 16/04/23 and 18/04/23.
Sedli told customers to “please do not eat the cheese” and said “we are terribly sorry to cause this inconvenience to you or to anyone”.
She added that all batches of the affected cheese were now being tested before being put out on a stall or sent to wholesalers or retailers.
The company’s Jersey Curd, Natural Live Yoghurt, Lypiatt, Culpeper and Bybrook are clear from any pathogens.
The FSA has said that symptoms caused by the organism can be similar to flu and include high temperature, muscle ache or pain, chills, feeling or being sick and diarrhoea. However, in rare cases, the infection can be more severe, causing serious complications, such as meningitis.
Those over 65 years, pregnant women and their unborn babies, babies less than one month old and people with weakened immune systems are more vulnerable to listeria infections.
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