Cheese in FDA food recalls

2,412 of the 29,386 FDA food recall records published since 2012 involve cheese, which is 8.2% of every food recall the agency has reported. 1,172 are Class I, and the median one ran 7 months. Data last updated 2 September 2026.

Records of 29,386

2,412

Share of all recalls

8.2%

Class I of 2,412

1,172

Reported between

2012 to 2026

Who got ill

The CDC recorded 191 foodborne outbreaks attributed to dairy between 2012 and 2023, with 2,149 reported illnesses, 374 hospitalisations and 20 deaths. That is 2.1% of the 9,038 foodborne outbreaks in the dataset, and 9.3 in every thousand of those reported ill died. CDC attributes an outbreak to a commodity rather than to a product, and its dairy commodity covers milk and cheese together, so this figure is wider than the recalls below it.

The cause recorded most often was Campylobacter jejuni, in 62 of the 185 outbreaks where a cause was recorded at all.

The setting recorded most often was a farm/dairy/agricultural setting, in 68 of the 127 where a setting was named.

What is different about these records

The hazard that separates Cheese from the national picture is listeria monocytogenes: 37.4% of these records name it, against 25.5% of all FDA food recalls.

These records overlap heavily with meat and poultry: 15.1% of them also fall under that category, against 5.5% across the corpus. A record can carry more than one category.

These recalls stay local: 14.6% state nationwide distribution, against 20.7% across the corpus.

Why cheese recalls the way it does

Cheese dominates Listeria recalls among dairy products because soft and semi-soft varieties hold enough moisture for the organism to grow at refrigeration temperature, and because most are eaten without any further cooking step.

Measured across these 2,412 records, listeria monocytogenes is the most frequent reason at 902, then undeclared allergens at 480. A record can name more than one hazard, so these overlap and do not sum to 2,412.

What goes wrong

• Listeria monocytogenes902
• Undeclared allergens480
• Foreign material247
• Salmonella238
• E. coli142
• Spoilage and mould35
• Viral and parasitic contamination29
• Chemical contamination26
• Process deviation18
• Clostridium botulinum4

The regulation that governs it

Part 133 is a set of standards of identity: 75 sections, most of them one named cheese each, fixing the milkfat and moisture and, for most varieties, requiring either that the milk be pasteurised or that the cheese be held at least 60 days at not less than 35 °F. That 60-day rule, written in §133.113 for cheddar and repeated across the part, is the reason raw-milk cheese is legal and the reason it is a Listeria question: ageing was adopted as a control for the pathogens of an earlier era. §1240.61 separately mandates pasteurisation for milk and milk products in final package form shipped interstate, which an aged raw-milk cheese is outside. The environmental monitoring, sanitation controls and corrective actions of part 117 are what a cheese plant is inspected against for Listeria.

These are the parts of 21 CFR that bear on cheese, reproduced in full on this site because title 21 is United States public domain.

• 21 CFR Part 13375Cheeses and Related Cheese Products
• 21 CFR Part 11761Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food
• 21 CFR Part 124015Control of Communicable Diseases

By year

Counts are by the date the FDA reported the enforcement action. That date runs behind the date a firm started a recall, so the most recent year is always partial.

Firms with the most records

A firm appears here because it reported recalls, which is what a working recall procedure produces. A high count frequently reflects a single event split across many product codes rather than many separate failures.

• FRESH IDEATION FOOD GROUP, LLC dba Fresh Creative Cuisine81
• Whole Foods Market62
• C & S Wholesale Grocers, Inc.55
• Garden-Fresh Foods, Inc.55
• SunBurst Foods, Inc.39
• Dairy Farmers OF America Inc37
• Giant Eagle36
• Sysco Charlotte36
• Springside Cheese Corp36
• Parkers Farm Inc34
• Fresh & Ready Foods LLC32
• Rabbit Creek Products Inc.30

Where the recalling firms are

The state is the location of the recalling firm, not where the product was sold. Distribution is recorded separately on each record.

• California259
• Wisconsin216
• Ohio168
• Texas164
• New York141
• Pennsylvania129
• Michigan125
• Maryland118
• North Carolina107
• Massachusetts104
• Missouri81
• Illinois81

Most recently reported

Questions

How many FDA recalls involve cheese?

2,412 of the 29,386 FDA food recall records published since 2012 involve cheese, which is 8.2% of all of them. 1,172 are Class I.

Why does cheese get recalled?

Cheese dominates Listeria recalls among dairy products because soft and semi-soft varieties hold enough moisture for the organism to grow at refrigeration temperature, and because most are eaten without any further cooking step.

What is the most common reason for a cheese recall?

Listeria monocytogenes appears in 902 of the 2,412 records in this category, followed by undeclared allergens with 480. A single recall can name more than one hazard, so these counts overlap.

How long does a cheese recall take?

The median recall in this category ran 7 months from the date the firm initiated it to the date the FDA terminated it. Termination means the agency judged that all reasonable effort had been made under 21 CFR 7.55; it does not mean no product remained in circulation.

All FDA food recall data