🧀 Ohio Cheese Recall: 5,400 Pounds Pulled Over Listeria Fears ⚠️ If you bought cheese in Ohio between mid July and early August, pause that snack and check your fridge. The FDA just posted a recall on multiple cheeses from Middlefield Original Cheese Co-Op after in house testing found Listeria contamination tied to the production environment.
More than 5,400 pounds are affected, and while no illnesses have been reported, this is the kind of news you do not ignore. The recall arrived days after a separate Listeria related recall of Brie sold in New York, which means cheese lovers are living through the exact timeline when vigilance matters most.
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Let’s start with what happened in Ohio, because the details are the difference between a calm pantry check and a chaotic kitchen purge. Middlefield Original Cheese Co-Op issued a company announcement that the FDA published on August 18, 2025. The notice lists specific products and codes: 100% Grass Fed Pepper Jack under Middlefield and Copia Collective labels, Horseradish Flavored Cheese, Monterey Jack, and Farmers Cheese. The smaller 8 ounce packs and 5 pound blocks can be identified by lot codes, while the massive 40 pound loaves use date codes. The recall covers product made on June 16, June 24, and July 16, and distributed across Ohio from July 14 through August 7, 2025. The stated reason is environmental contamination that migrated into food contact areas, which is exactly the scenario food safety teams are trained to catch. Again, no illnesses have been reported to date.
Here is what those lot and date codes look like so you can check without guesswork. For Pepper Jack, look for Lot Code 251661 on 8 ounce packages, 5 pound loaves, and 40 pound loaves, including Copia Collective 8 ounce units with the same code. For Horseradish Flavored Cheese, the code is 2524061 on 8 ounce packages. For Monterey Jack, the 8 ounce and 5 pound items use Lot Code 251672, while 40 pound blocks carry the date code 7 16 25B. Farmers Cheese mirrors that Monterey Jack pattern, with Lot Code 251672 for 8 ounce and 5 pound sizes and date code 7 16 25B for 40 pound blocks. If any of those codes match what is in your refrigerator or back room, it does not matter if the package is unopened or looks fine. You follow the recall guidance.
The quantities tell their own story. The company lists 246.5 pounds of Grass Fed Pepper Jack, 2.5 pounds of Horseradish Flavored Cheese, 640 pounds of Monterey Jack, and 4,544.5 pounds of White Cheddar in 40 pound loaves, all flagged under the same contamination concern. That adds up to more than 5,400 pounds, and it explains why the alert received immediate attention from grocers and consumers statewide. The announcement also makes it clear that production was suspended during the investigation, which is a standard containment step while a facility hunts down and fixes an environmental source.
If you are wondering whether this is a one off or part of a bigger pattern, here is the context. Just a few days earlier, the FDA posted a separate company announcement from Fromi USA recalling twelve cases of Brie Royal Faucon in New York after a foreign supplier warned about possible Listeria contamination. That cheese was distributed to Cheese Plate locations in Brooklyn and then cut and sold to customers between July 24 and August 13. The product uses Lot 615 and comes in wooden boxes before it is portioned, which means pieces bought at the counter may lack full retail labels. No illnesses were reported there either, but the risk category is the same. Soft and semi soft cheeses are ready to eat foods, and Listeria is a hardy organism that can persist in cool, damp spaces like drains and equipment crevices if sanitation or facility design has gaps.
Now let’s translate the recall language into real life steps. If you have any of the Middlefield items with the listed codes, do not taste test, do not serve, do not repurpose. The guidance is simple. Throw it out or return it for a refund and then clean. That means washing and sanitizing cutting boards, knives, deli slicers, fridge shelves, and any surface that touched the cheese or its packaging. Listeria can survive and even slowly grow in the refrigerator, which is why ready to eat items are such a focus in these investigations. The company’s notice spells out the refund path and provides a direct contact number for customer questions. The bottom line is to treat this like a food safety drill you take seriously every time.
If you already ate the recalled cheese, do not panic. The FDA language explains that healthy people may experience short term symptoms like fever, headache, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. High risk groups include pregnant people, older adults, young children, and those with compromised immunity. The reason authorities lean so hard on Listeria recalls is that infections in these groups can escalate into severe outcomes, including miscarriages and stillbirths. If you are in a high risk category and ate a recalled product, call your healthcare provider and describe what you ate and when. If you have symptoms, seek care promptly. That extra phone call is not overreacting, it is responsible.
Stores and restaurants have their own responsibilities here, and that includes scanning inventory, pulling affected codes, posting notices for customers, and documenting disposal or return. The faster that happens, the fewer stray pieces end up in shoppers’ baskets. If you run a small café, deli, or event space and you bought bulk blocks of Monterey Jack or White Cheddar during that July window, this recall is especially relevant. Bulk formats are convenient and cost effective, but they also rely on strict labeling and FIFO discipline to keep track of codes and production dates. Walk your cooler, confirm your logs, and if anything looks off, assume the cautious path.
There is also a lesson in how quickly the information flow works. The Middlefield announcement explains that the contamination was environmental, which means the bacteria was living somewhere in the plant and found a pathway to food contact surfaces. Facilities monitor for exactly this scenario with environmental swabs and root cause analysis when a positive appears. When a test confirms Listeria monocytogenes rather than a harmless species, the escalation is immediate. Production pauses. Lines are cleaned and sometimes taken apart. Crews search drains, floors, and equipment seams. Finished product from the risk window is traced and recalled. The FDA’s role in posting company announcements is to centralize that information so the public and retailers can act fast.
What about that New York Brie case. It is a smaller volume recall, only twelve cases imported and distributed to two specialty shops, but the exposure model is different. Wheels of brie get cut and wrapped in store, and the pieces might not carry the original lot number on the consumer facing label. That is why the announcement calls out dates and store locations for customers to check receipts and shopping habits rather than relying only on a code on the rind. If your memory says you bought a fancy brie at a Brooklyn Cheese Plate in late July or early August, that is your cue to stop, verify, and if in doubt, toss it. Brie chopped for a picnic is not worth the risk.
For Ohio readers, here is the practical checklist you can run today. Open the fridge and isolate any Pepper Jack, Horseradish, Monterey Jack, or Farmers Cheese from Middlefield or Copia Collective. Read the codes. If they match the recall, bag them to prevent cross contamination and discard or take them back to the store. Wipe down shelves and bins with hot, soapy water, then use a sanitizer that is safe for food contact surfaces. Wash your hands. If you run a small food business, document the disposal and call your distributor for credit. It is boring and it works.
It is also worth talking about why food recalls like this are not failures of the system but signs the system is doing its job. A detection in the plant, a pause in production, a public notice with precise times, codes, and weights, a reminder that no illnesses are linked so far. This is exactly the chain of events that keeps risk from becoming tragedy. Shoppers are partners in that chain when they read labels and take five minutes to check. That is the internet we actually want, one where a post makes a family safer by lunchtime.
The whirlwind week of cheese news might feel like overkill, but it is better than the alternative. Food safety is a game of margins and minutes. Today the margin is your cheese drawer. The minute is right now. Open the fridge and make the call.
.jpg "FDA posts Ohio cheese recall over Listeria concerns")
The recall clock is already ticking, and the only person who can clear your fridge is you.
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