Second L.A. Cheese Maker Plans Recall

SACRAMENTO —  The investigation of the state’s cheese manufacturers widened today as state officials disclosed that a second Los Angeles area company has agreed to a voluntary recall of one type of Mexican style cheese.

State Food and Agriculture Director Clare Berryhill said one type of cheese produced by the Cacique Cheese Co. of Pasadena showed the presence of a natural enzyme that should have been destroyed if the milk used to produce it had been properly pasteurized.

He identified the product as Cacique’s queso blanco fresco.

But there was no evidence, he stressed, that the product was contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, the bacteria found in cheeses made in Artesia by Jalisco Mexican Products Inc., that have been linked to 39 deaths.

Details Expected

Further details about the latest recall are expected to be released later today.

Officials of Cacique--the largest producer of Mexican-style cheeses in the Los Angeles area--were said to be in conference and could not be reached for comment.

Berryhill stressed in an interview that there have been no problems with the most common kinds of cheeses. But the traditional Mexican-style cheeses are packaged fresh, and unless prepared with pasteurized milk can present a health hazard.

“I don’t want the public to panic,” he said, “and to think our pasteurization procedures don’t work.”