Dive Brief:
- Mexican-style food manufacturer Rizo Lopez Foods received a permanent injunction barring it from manufacturing and selling products following a listeria outbreak earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration announced Oct. 8. The manufacturer cannot restart production until it complies with federal regulations.
- The injunction stems from an FDA investigation earlier this year into a multiyear, multi-state listeria outbreak stemming from Rizo Lopez Foods' queso fresco and cotija cheese products.
- The California-based company voluntarily recalled its entire dairy product inventory, including nearly 120 products, in February, but the outbreak resulted in 26 illnesses, 23 hospitalizations, two deaths and one pregnancy loss, according to the FDA.
Dive Insight:
The investigation began in January, when the Hawaii State Department of Health’s Food and Drug Branch collected a retail sample of the Rizo Lopez Foods’ Aged Cotija Mexican Grating Cheese, which tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes, the bacteria that can lead to listeriosis, a food-borne bacterial illness.
Listeriosis can have serious health effects, particularly for women who are or may become pregnant, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems, according to the CDC. Four individuals were pregnant in the investigation, including one who suffered a pregnancy loss.
The FDA inspected the Rizo Lopez Foods’ facilities from January to February, finding the same strain of L. monocytogenes in two locations as well as various insanitary conditions, according to the Justice Department.
The recall included almost 120 products sold nationwide, including cheese, yogurt and sour cream sold under the brand names Tio Francisco, Don Francisco, Rizo Bros and more.
The outbreak includes cases dating back to 2014. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also investigated the outbreak in 2017 and 2021, but did not have enough information to identify a specific brand.
Rizo Lopez Foods and its owners, Edwin Rizo and Tomas Rizo, agreed to settle the suit and abide by the consent decree issued on Oct 8, according to the DOJ. The company must meet FDA requirements and receive federal approval before resuming operations, as well as allow the FDA to inspect its facility, including the buildings, sanitation-related systems, equipment, utensils, all articles of food and relevant records.
Rizo Lopez Foods did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Food safety is a critical responsibility. Producers of fresco type cheeses are responsible for producing safe food, including being in compliance with food safety laws and regulations. Through this unfortunate outbreak, we see what can happen when a company fails to meet their legal responsibilities,” FDA Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods Jim Jones said in the agency press release.
Due to the outbreak, the agency developed a strategy for reducing the likelihood of outbreaks and illnesses of listeriosis associated with cheeses. Some potential actions include prioritizing inspections with sampling at soft fresh queso fresco-type manufacturing firms and increasing sampling of the specific cheeses at U.S. retail operations to look for the presence of listeriosis genes, the strategy summary stated.
