flax meal recall I don't see anything else but sprouted flax seed meal is worth noting...

Not something i would usually buy.

And people worry about home prepared food. I find commercially prepared items far more likely to make me sick than stuff I made myself.

I don't care for blue (or bleu) cheese, but I did check the flax meal. It appears that I'm safe for yet another day, LOL.

Thanks for the "heads up".

Annie

I don't know what the story here is from the Dairy Farm's point of view. But I do know that the FDA has been very nervous about raw milk cheese for at least 30 years that I am aware of.
Most "good" cheeses are made from raw milk...parmesan reggiano, Brie, blue mold cheeses ( at least the good ones!), many well aged chedder cheeses. The thoughts....and science has been that after 60 days, the lysteria bacteria is no longer...either present or dangerous, due to the exposure to the acedic nature of a well aged cheese. The FDA has said that no raw milk cheese can be sold, or imported before being aged 60 days, which is one reason why domestic Brie is always better than French....unless you are in France. Brie is a short aged cheese 90 days or there abouts....and in order for cheese to be imported and still get on the shelf and be sold before it spoils....and still be 60 days old when it comes into the country...is quite a trick.
The answer, of course is to eliminate lysteria from dairy cattle....but that means using anitbiotics....which you can't use and still make cheese out of the milk. if antibiotics are present in the milk from one cow, in hundreds of gallons of milk, the cheese made from that milk won't set up and will spoil.
The FDA wants all cheese to be made from pasteurized milk....and that means we will have to settle for things like Colby and Monteray Jack and various supermarket chedders. I love my good "dirty" aged flavorful cheeses.
It has been said that lysteriosis can in very rare cases, cause still birth...but in as many cases so can flu.
I only hope we are not heading toward black market raw milk cheeses. I love my imported Parmesan and Romano....and my good raw milk domestic cheeses.

And I will treat with loving care and slowly savor the pound of Maytag blue in my refrigerator!!

lindac92: I had mentioned on another forum that the 2lb wheel of Maytag Blue I purchased had odd yellow streaks and oozed liquid when brought to room temp. Maytag replaced this wheel with another which, although well-wrapped, is now coated with blue mold and, even though blue cheese contains mold, I've never had one of their wheels develop this coating. Are you saying that after 60 days it may be safe to eat? Have been buying blue from Maytag for many years, and am now disappointed to say the least.

Your cheese is fine i'm sure. The recall is most likely the process of packaging not the method of cheese making. A lot # is listed on the website.

I'm not sure if i've had Maytag as my local market has probably a hundred 'blues' from all over the planet.. We try different ones all the time.

I get e-mails from the FDA and check out what is an issue. (since the melamine scandal)

It is the most useful for those caring for compromised immune systems, nut or dairy allergies, or gluten celiac issues.

We are all designed to handle it 99% of the time with even a moderately healthy gut.

First of all the overly wet cheese you experienced a couple of months back was in no way related the present findings.
Secondly the surface mold on your present wheel has nothing at all to do with lysteria. That is caused by air getting to the surface of the cheese. Blue mold grows when exposed to air, which is why holes are punched in the cheese after it is formed into wheels, to allow air to get in so the mold can grow. Either the person who hand wrapped the cheese wasn't careful enough, or when you re wrapped the cheese you didn't take enough care to make sure the foil was firmly in contact with the cheese.
The reason they found lysteria in the cheese is because one of the farmers whose cows supplied the milk for the cheese was not keeping a close enough eye on his cow to notice when one was sick. Lysteria can cause still birth or abortion in a cow and since milk production depends on healthy cows having calves, no farmer wants lysteria anywhere near his dairy herd.
I am told that the milk comes from dairy farmers within this county....so we don't deal with big tankers of milk from California.
Lysteria in aged cheeses has been a subject of controversy for many many years. Cany lysteria bacteria present in cheeses aged 60 days or longer at a temperature above 35 degrees is rendered in active or killed during that time....but it seems that if it was ever present it is still detectable.
This has been an ongoing war with makers of fine cheeses and the FDA. Imported Romano was recently recalled and Blue Bell had a huge recall of their ice cream a little while ago>
I get more than a little irritated by government agencies that are sending alarms about cheese when no illnesses have been reported and that same government allowing the presence of hormones in our fluid milk and meat>
I wish I could get my hands on some of that recalled cheese....I'll bet it's cheap....and just as good as any ever made!