There’s little else better than a baked, gooey soft cheese to make for a perfect snack. Unfortunately, two popular creamy cheeses sold in Hong Kong are being recalled from shelves due to possible contamination with listeria monocytogenes, and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has warned the public not to consume them if purchased.
The two products in question are both from the Mon Ami brand, and are the Petit Camembert and the Petit Brie. If you’re not sure whether that little wheel of soft white-rind cheese in your fridge falls into the contaminated batch, just check if they are the 125-gram pack, with lot or batch numbers C4314092, C5073065, or C5084081 for the camembert, and C5084093 for the brie.
The European Commission’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed notified Hong Kong’s Centre for Food Safety (CFS) that there was a possible listeria contamination with these two cheese products, which are produced in France, but by then two importers had already purchased from the affected batches and brought them into Hong Kong. The importers – JJ Global Sourcing and Classic Fine Foods (Hong Kong) – have stopped sales and removed these products from shelves, but there’s still a chance that some citizens have already bought the camembert or brie.
In general, the listeria bacteria does not pose a big danger to healthy individuals, with symptoms including fever, muscle aches and pains, headache, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhoea for a few days. That said, some people have a higher risk of developing serious problems from listeriosis, such as septicaemia, meningitis, or even death in babies, the elderly, and those with a weaker immune system. If a pregnant woman gets listeriosis, there’s a risk of miscarriage or stillbirth.
Listeria monocytogenes can survive and multiply at refrigerator temperature, but luckily can easily be destroyed by cooking. Still, it’s best to bin that Mon Ami for now and buy from another brand – no matter how devastating it can be to throw away what looks like perfectly good cheese.
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