Former raw milk cheese maker pleads guilty in connection with fatal listeria outbreak
A former producer of raw milk cheese pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges related to a deadly outbreak of listeria from 2016 to 2017, federal prosecutors said.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A former producer of raw milk cheese pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges related to a deadly outbreak of listeria from 2016 to 2017, federal prosecutors said.
Johannes Vulto and his New York-based company Vulto Creamery LLC each pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of causing the introduction of adulterated food into interstate commerce in federal court in Syracuse, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Prosecutors say environmental swabs taken at the Vulto Creamery facility in Walton repeatedly tested positive for listeria bacteria between July 2014 and February 2017.
Vulto Creamery had voluntarily recalled all soft, wash-rind raw-milk cheese.Vulto CreameryVulto shut down the creamery and issued a full recall after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2017 linked the creamery’s cheese to an outbreak of listeriosis that resulted in eight hospitalizations and two deaths — one in Vermont and another in Connecticut.
Listeriosis is a potentially life-threatening bacterial illness caused by consuming foods contaminated with listeria monocytogenes. Pregnant women, newborns, elderly people and others with weakened immune systems are among the most at risk of severe illness.
Rating: 5