A recall on cheese from Gort’s Gouda Cheese Farm near Salmon Arm, B.C., was expanded Sept. 19 to include 15 products.
The Public Health Agency of Canada said the cheese is contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 and caused the death of one British Columbia resident. It is also connected to illnesses in another 14 people, four of them in B.C., eight in Alberta, one in Sask-atchewan and one in Quebec.
The public health agency said all individuals got sick between mid-July and early September and most recovered within five to 10 days.
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“There is currently no indication of widespread risk to Canadians,” the agency said in a news release.
“However, E. coli O157:H7 can pose a serious public health risk,” it said.
Provincial health agencies are co-operating in the investigation and recall.
Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer, an-nounced the single case in that province Sept. 20.
“This product has not been sold in Saskatchewan and most of the people would have obtained it travelling through B.C. or by purchasing it at a limited number of online accounts that were primarily in B.C. and Alberta,” he said.
“This person (the Saskatchewan person who is ill) was travelling through B.C. and may have consumed the product there. The investigation is ongoing,” he said.
“We were notified because all the cases have a genetic fingerprint match.”
The person affected, a young adult, has since recovered, Shahab added.
In Alberta, chief medical officer James Talbot said Sept. 18 that two people in Edmonton and five in Calgary were made ill but not hospitalized. Ages ranged from three to 78.
The cheese recall was first issued Sept. 17 and applies to all sizes of cheese packages sold directly from the farm, through internet sales and distributed to B.C. and Alberta retail stores between May 27 and Sept. 14.
Gort’s has voluntarily recalled its products and has stopped selling cheese at the farm.
It promised full co-operation with an ongoing investigation but refused further comment until results are known.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspected the farm Aug. 28, with no problems identified.
The CFIA also reported that Gort’s has had two recalls in the past: one in 2009 because of “non-satisfactory CFIA sampling” for staphylococcus and E. coli in cheese, and in 2012 for cream that didn’t meet the required temperature for pasteurization.
The cheese at issue was made with unpasteurized milk. The farm also sells pasteurized products including milk and yogurt.
“We express our concern and sorrow for those who may have been affected,” said Gort’s on its website.
Pasteurization kills E. coli bacteria and the case has raised questions about the safety of using unpasteurized milk in food production. However, the curing process in cheese making generally destroys harmful bacteria.
The CFIA and Health Canada require raw milk cheese to be stored for 60 days at 2 C or above. It is not yet known if the recalled Gort’s cheese met this requirement.
