Supermarket cheeses recalled in France over fears of listeria

They were sold in all major supermarkets nationally

French Comté cheese on a platter.
Listeriosis can affect someone up to eight weeks after ingesting an infected product
Published

Industrial cheese products sold across major French supermarkets have been recalled, due to the potential presence of listeria. 

The four products are all mass-produced versions of Comté cheese – one of France’s most popular – sold either under the ‘Entremont’ brand or Carrefour own-brand labels. 

Two of the products were shredded cheeses, whilst the others were small blocks. They were sold across all regions of France.

The Entremont cheeses were sold in E.Leclerc, Carrefour, Super U and Système U, Intermarché, Cora, Monoprix, Casino, and Cora shops, whilst the Carrefour own-brand were only sold in Carrefour.

Three of the cheese products were sold from February 8/9 until early April, whilst one was sold between March 12 and April 17. 

Some of the cheese sold earlier has already passed its best before date, but may still be in people’s fridges.

Refunds from the point of purchase are available for all products – up until April 23 for the Entremont branded cheese, and May 6 for the Carrefour products.

Otherwise, official advice is to not open the product nor consume it, and throw it away.

The information about the products can be found below, through the official RappelConso product recall website.

Read more: Why are there more food recalls now in France, that you often post?

Listeria fears 

The cheeses potentially contain the listeria bacteria, which is responsible for listeriosis food poisoning. 

This is the second most common form of food poisoning related deaths in France, and is particularly lethal for elderly people, young children and babies, and immunocompromised people. 

Symptoms include headaches, fever, nausea, and body aches.

They can appear up to eight weeks after eating an infected product – which is why the alert is being raised even if many of the products had already passed their expiry date before the time of recall. 

If you experience any of these symptoms and have eaten any of the recalled products, you should immediately contact a doctor.

Read more: Nearly 6,000 food products recalled in France over two years

A large number of dairy products are recalled in France each year over listeria concerns.