Salmonella Concerns Prompt The Recall Of More Than 830,000 Cream Cheese Items

An ongoing, widespread recall concerning cream cheese spreads, first reported by the FDA with an initiation date of May 3, now cover 836,721 units of affected products. The concern is potential Salmonella contamination in numerous spreads produced by Schreiber Foods of Green Bay, Wisconsin and sold by major retailers under differing brand names. Retailers and brands impacted by the recall include Kroger, Aldi, Hy Vee, Piggly Wiggly, Duncan, Dutch Farms, Happy Farms, Schnuck, Our Family, Fareway, Essential Everyday, and Schreiber Foods.

Though the recall originated in early May, the products have use-by, sell-by, or expiration dates reaching into August through October, 2024, raising concerns of affected products remaining in home refrigerators. The items, packaged under varying brand names, include 8-ounce containers of whipped, garden vegetable, strawberry, blueberry, and chive and onion cream cheese spreads. In addition, there's a 5-pound container of ranch garlic cream cheese and a variety tray with 8-ounce containers of chive onion, strawberry, and plain spreads.

The recalled products had a wide distribution across at least 19 U.S. states and one U.S. territory, including California, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as in Puerto Rico. Detailed information, including lot numbers, dates, UPC codes, and brand names, is available on the FDA list of Event Details.

Though unrelated to the ongoing cream cheese salmonella recall, more dairy drama unfolded less than a month later on the U.S. West Coast. In the state of Oregon, the Tillamook Creamery, a dairy co-op of farmer-owners producing Tillamook cheese and dairy products, took a hit on June 1 when forced to alert Northwest-region Costco members of a potential hazard regarding a different kind of contamination.

This recall has nothing to do with bacteria, but rather concerns plastic fragments. Unlike the ongoing Schreiber Foods recalls of 800,000-plus cream cheese recalls, the Tillamook issue is much narrower. It concerns only a single product sold at Northwestern Costco locations: a 32-ounce twin-pack package of Tillamook Colby Jack and Tillamook Monterey Jack cheese slices. The company's routine food safety and quality checks revealed what is described as a "very small quantity" of gray and black plastic pieces in the Colby Jack cheese slices.

In the Tillamook cheese recall, the item number is 651195, with a "Best If Used By" date of October 22, 2024. Costco members who purchased the cheese between May 9 and May 31, 2024, have been notified and are advised to refrain from eating the cheese and to return the product for a full refund. One year earlier, on May 31, 2023, Tillamook issued a recall for mislabeled product packaging of its Waffle Cone Swirl ice cream, due to concerns over missing allergen disclosures.