Cheese Suspected In 2 Deaths Recalled From NYC Stores

NEW YORK, NY — Two people have died after eating cheese from a company that sells its products in nearly a dozen New York City locations, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The CDC said Thursday that six people had fallen ill with listeria since September after eating cheese from New York's Vulto Creamery, and that two of them died. The CDC identified Vulto cheese as the likely source of the listeria infection. The two people who died were from Connecticut and Vermont, the CDC said. Three people from New York and one person from Florida were also infected with the strain of listeria.

"Epidemiologic and laboratory evidence indicate that soft raw milk cheese made by Vulto Creamery of Walton, New York, is the likely source of this outbreak," the CDC said in a statement on Thursday.

All six people who were infected were hospitalized, the CDC said.

On Tuesday, the creamery recalled its Ouleout, Miranda, Heinennellie, and Willowemoc soft wash-rind raw milk cheeses. Those cheeses were sold nationwide, but the majority were available in northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, California, Chicago, Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C., according to the CDC. According to Vulto's website, the cheese makers' products are for sale at nearly a dozen New York City shops.

Whole Foods, which sells those cheeses at some of its New York stores, said it is voluntarily recalling the cheeses. In its recall statement, the chain said NYC stores at 250 7th Ave. and 270 Greenwich St. had both sold the recalled cheese.

Patch was not immediately able to reach Vulto Creamery for comment.

This post will be updated.

Lead image courtesy of the FDA.