PRICE/COSTCO PULLS JARLSBERG CHEESE AFTER LISTERIA CONTAMINATION FOUND

PAMELA BLAMEY

ISSAQUAH, Wash. -- Price/Costco, based here, pulled packages of Jarlsberg cheese from its selling floors when the Food and Drug Administration turned up a positive result for listeria.

The 1- to 2-pound cheese wedges were sourced from an Auburn, Wash.-based importer, Peterson Co., Price/Costco general merchandising manager John Eagan told SN last week.

Stores in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington were affected.

"We were notified late last week that there was a listeria problem," Eagan told SN. "The FDA found it through random monitoring, and we've pulled it from our warehouses.

"There have been no illnesses as far as we know," Eagan added.

Listeria monocyctogenes can cause serious illness in some individuals, said Peterson chief executive officer George Lyden. "There are some high risks for people who have weakened immune systems," he explained. "Symptoms associated with it are usually fever, headache, nausea, vomiting.

"There are only two possible sources of contamination," he continued. "It's either the manufacturing process or it was contaminated during the cutting process, and we're looking into both."