Towards a new health scandal? More than 40 lots of cheese with pasteurized milk, Chavegrand cheese dairy, were the subject of a recall between Monday 11 and Tuesday August 12 due to suspicion of contamination at the Listeria bacteria. France’s public health investigations have made it possible to draw up a «lien possible» With 21 cases of listeriasis, intoxication linked to this pathogen, including two deaths. Liberty take stock.
This Tuesday, August 12, the government site Reminder CONSO publishes the list of more than 40 cheeses concerned by a recall, due to a suspicion of contamination to the Listeria bacteria, which can be particularly dangerous in pregnant women.
In the viewfinder, current varieties – camemberts, goats, gorgonzolas or even bries, sold in most stores like Leclerc, Auchan or Carrefour via distributor brands. In the list available on the government site consumer recall, we find, for example, the Coulommiers of the Chaignet brand, the accomplice heart and the Buèvre Classic goat’s log, the double cream cheese of the Simpl brand or the Camembert and the Coulommiers of the Le Paturon brand, sold at Aldi. Most of the major brands are concerned: Carrefour, Leclerc, Aldi, U, Intermarché, Auchan, Lidl, Clean …
The various reminders were made between Monday 11 and Tuesday August 12 and concern all the cheeses produced before June 23, 2025. The cheeses concerned were marketed “Until August 9, 2025” on “The whole national territory”especially in supermarkets, as well as “That internationally”said Public Health France in its press release Tuesday August 12.
Most of these products come from the same company, the Chavegrand cheese dairy, located in Creuse, which had already been the subject of a similar recall in June. Contacted by AFP, the cheese dairy explains that all the products recalled, in June and August, were produced on an old production line, closed in early June and replaced by a new line, in an extension of the building. “There was a very reinforced analysis plan, with several thousand analyzes, but we did not find [de trace de Listeria] in the cheese dairy. We have no explanation yet ”, specifies Guillaume Albert, consultant for the Chavegrand cheese dairy.
After the announcement Tuesday August 12 in the evening of the two deaths, the company reacted to AFP. “The news is overwhelming and the Chavegrand cheese dairy addresses its condolences to affected families”. “We have multiplied by 100 the number of analyzes on products and equipment to be sure that there was no contaminant. All our employees who have been working very hard since June are stunned by this news “adds Chavegrand’s communication, which talks about a case “Rare”. Created in 1952, this Creusoise SME, which employs 120 people, claims to have “Never known to contamination of product” previously since its creation.
“The problem for consumers is that, as usual, these reminders occur too late when the evil is made,” said deplored Foodwatch in a press release. For the consumer defense association, the cheese dairy would have “Had to take the hygiene measures which are essential and ensure that it did not sell products that expose consumers to a danger to their health”. Foodwatch also wonders “On the role of our control authorities. What did they do between June and August? ”
The health authorities have identified 21 cases of listeriosis, including two deaths, which could present a «lien possible» With the consumption of cheese with pasteurized milk of the Chavegrand cheese dairy having been the subject of a recall, according to a press release released Tuesday evening by Public Health France and the Ministry of Agriculture. The 21 patients are aged 34 to 95. One of the two dead people had “Underlying pathologies”, said the press release.
“The investigations carried out by Public Health France […] led to identify in early August for the converging epidemiological and microbiological elements, establishing a possible link between these ” 21 “Case of listeriosis”including 18 since June, “And the consumption of pasteurized milk cheeses produced by the company Chavegrand”said the press release.
Listeriosis, caused by the Listeria Monocytogenes, is the second cause of mortality by food poisoning with, in France, a few dozen deaths per year. Only salmonella, also bacteria, cause more fatal poisoning: several hundred each year.
In its so -called “invasive” form, listeriosis is particularly murderous: a quarter of the patients, about, die, for example because of neurological complications like meningitis. Incubation generally lasts one or two weeks, but can go up to almost three months, and pregnant women are particularly threatened, with twenty times more risk of developing this infection than the rest of the population.
Like salmonellosis, listeriosis is treated in antibiotics. This distinguishes them from another family of emblematic bacteria of food infections, Escherichia coli: these – in their dangerous forms, a large number being harmless – cause less serious poisoning than Listeria and Salmonella but they are more difficult to treat, because antibiotics are helpless.
People who have consumed these cheeses “And who would present fever, isolated or accompanied by headache, and aches, are invited to consult their doctor by signaling this consumption”, warns the CONSO REMINDER SITE. Pregnant women, immunocompromised people and the elderly “Should be particularly attentive to these symptoms”
Update at 8:20 p.m. with the public health press release France: at 9:15 p.m., with more details; August 13 with the reaction of the cheese dairy at two deaths
