Class ITerminated · reported 2017-04-19

Hamden, 3.5 lbs. wrapped in paper Vulto Creamery, Walton, NY.

Tomales Bay Foods, Inc. recalled this product and the FDA reported the enforcement action on 19 April 2017 as Class I. The recall was initiated by the firm. Firm was notified by their supplier that the product may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The record

Every field below is published by the FDA in the openFDA food enforcement database. Check the FDA notice before acting on any recall: this page is a reading of the public record, not a substitute for it.

Product: Hamden, 3.5 lbs. wrapped in paper Vulto Creamery, Walton, NY.
Reason for recall: Firm was notified by their supplier that the product may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
Recalling firm: Tomales Bay Foods, Inc.
Firm location: Petaluma, California, United States
Classification: Class I
Status: Terminated
Recall number: F-1866-2017
Quantity: 75.44 lbs.
Distribution: CA, TX, PA, IN, MN, SD, NV
Initiated: 6 March 2017
Reported by FDA: 19 April 2017
Terminated: 11 April 2017
Firm notified by: Two or more of the following: Email, Fax, Letter, Press Release, Telephone, Visit
Product codes: 597H 590H 593H 598H 601H 577H 578H 530H

Reading this record

Five things about this record are not in the record itself, and each one changes how it should be read.

Class I means the FDA judged a reasonable probability that the product would cause serious health consequences or death. The class is assigned by an agency health hazard evaluation under 21 CFR 7.41, not by the firm.
The firm started this recall itself. Most FDA food recalls are voluntary, and a recall is a food safety plan working rather than failing. The circumstances in which the agency asks for one instead are set out in 21 CFR 7.45.
This is one of 3 records covering the same recall event. The FDA opens one enforcement record per product code, so a recall of a product line appears here many times. Counting these records as 3 separate recalls, which almost every published figure does, overstates it by a factor of 3. Every product code in this event is listed together on the record that covers the whole recall, which is the page a search engine is pointed to for all 3 of them.
The recall ran for 5 weeks, from 6 March 2017 to termination on 11 April 2017. Termination means the agency judged that all reasonable effort had been made, under 21 CFR 7.55, and it says nothing about whether product remained in circulation.
The distribution pattern names 7 states, and the FDA published the enforcement report 6 weeks after the firm began the recall.
The product description on this record names no food this site can classify, so it appears on no food-type page. That is a limit of the description rather than of the recall.

Named in the distribution pattern: California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nevada. Those pages count recalls by where the RECALLING FIRM sits, which is a different question from where this product went.

What this recall was for

Listeria monocytogenes

Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium that grows at refrigeration temperature, which is why it dominates recalls of ready-to-eat foods that are never cooked again before they are eaten.

A preventive controls plan covers Listeria contamination under the clauses below. This is where the control belongs, not a finding against any firm named on this page: a recall record states a reason, and most of these recalls were initiated by the firm itself.

21 CFR 117.135(c)(3): Sanitation controls: the controls on cleaning food-contact surfaces and on preventing cross-contact and cross-contamination from insanitary objects, people and equipment.
21 CFR 117.165(a)(3): Environmental monitoring: testing the processing environment for an environmental pathogen, required when a ready-to-eat food is exposed to the environment before packaging.
21 CFR 117.150: Corrective actions: what a facility does when a preventive control was not properly implemented, including identifying and correcting the problem and evaluating the food for safety.

Other records from Tomales Bay Foods, Inc.

The FDA opens one enforcement record per product code, so several of these are frequently one recall event. 5 other records name this firm.

Reported	Product	Firm	Reason	Class
2017-04-19	Ouleout, 1.5 lbs. wrapped in paper Vulto Creamery, Walton, NY.	Tomales Bay Foods, Inc.	Firm was notified by their supplier that the product may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.	Class I
2017-04-19	Miranda, 5 lb. wrapped in paper; Vulto Creamery, Walton, NY.	Tomales Bay Foods, Inc.	Firm was notified by their supplier that the product may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.	Class I
2012-12-12	Tomales Bay Foods brand Artisan Cheese in PARTIAL WHEELS of Cheese, from cheese makers in US (VA, VT, Ca, WI, OR, WA and UT) and Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, France, Holland and Greece. Varieties include Appalachian, Coolea, Cabot clothbound Cheddar, Big Rock Blue, Goat Gouda, Holey Cow, Big Woods Blue, Fiore Sardo,, Valdeon, Pecorino Romano, Sottocenere, Capriago, Capricious, Cave Aged Gruyere, Cave Aged Marisa, Fenacho, Pondhopper, Comte, L'Amuse Signature Gouda, Dante Waxed Rind, Dry Jack Special Reserve, Mezzo Secco, Extra Mature Bandage Cheddar, San Joaquin Gold, Flagship Reserve Truckle, Fontina Vallet Pietro, Grana Padano, Parmigiano Reggiano Organic, Taleggio Organic, Comte Reserve Ete, Loma Alta, Mt. Viko Barrel Aged Feta, Pepato, San Andreas Bellwether Farms, Reading, Tarentaise, Seahive, St. George, Toma and Wagon Wheel. Cheese is cut per order and wrapped in cheese paper and marked with a magic marker indicating the type of cheese, poundage and pack date as well as a Tomales Bay Foods label. There are no code numbers or expiration dates marked on the product.	Tomales Bay Foods, Inc.	Firm received a positive environmental for Listeria Monocytogenes from their internal testing samples.	Class II
2012-12-12	Shepherd's Way Big Woods Blue cut wrapped in cheese paper with with type of cheese marked with magic marker and a Tomales Bay Foods sticker applied. Product is cut and packaged by Tomales Bay Foods, Petaluma, CA	Tomales Bay Foods, Inc.	State of CA Department of Agriculture sampled finished product and found Listeria monocytogenes in Pondhopper cheese.	Class I
2012-12-12	Tumulo Farms, Pondhopper Cheese; any cut or partial wheels, wrapped in cheese paper with with type of cheese marked with magic marker and a Tomales Bay Foods sticker applied. Product is cut and packaged by Tomales Bay Foods, Petaluma, CA	Tomales Bay Foods, Inc.	State of CA Department of Agriculture sampled finished product and found Listeria monocytogenes in Pondhopper cheese. .	Class I

All 6 records for Tomales Bay Foods, Inc.

All 2017 recalls · All FDA food recall data

21 CFR 117.135(c)(3) is the clause behind this recall, and it is one somebody has to produce evidence for at their next audit. Krolda maps supplier documents to the clause they satisfy in FSSC 22000, IFS Food and 21 CFR 117, and routes the corrective action when the evidence is missing.

Early access

Recall records come from the openFDA food enforcement API, published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the public domain. Krolda adds the hazard classification and the clause mapping; neither is an FDA determination. Always check the FDA notice before acting on a recall.