A New York cheesemaker has admitted that making milk products that led to a Listeria outbreak that killed two people and hospitalized eight others has something to do with it.
Vulto Creamery LLC and its owner, Johannes Vulto, are to blame. Vulto pled guilty to a misdemeanor count of leaving a path of contamination that led to a Listeria outbreak in 2016–2017. It was found that the Listeria outbreak was caused by cheese made in his plant.
The Department of Justice said, “Vulto was in charge of operations at the Vulto Creamery manufacturing facility in Walton, New York, including those related to sanitation and environmental monitoring.”
In their plea, they said, “Vulto and Vulto Creamery admitted that from December 2014 to March 2017, they were responsible for the interstate shipment of cheese that had been tampered with.”
In his guilty plea, Vulto said that they knew there was Listeria in their goods from July 2014 to February 2017 because swabs kept coming back positive. Listeria monocytogenes spread to people mostly because of dirty conditions that let infections happen.
This disease can be very dangerous and even kill you. It can be very bad for pregnant women, kids, and older people.
There are two kinds of Listeria: one that is harmless, and one that can cause Listeriosis in people, which is fatal. In 2017, his cheese factory was linked to the outbreak, and Vulto quickly put out a warning.
The Office of Criminal Investigation at the FDA says that people look to the FDA to tell them what foods are safe to eat. “When companies and people think they are above the law by making food that puts people in danger and hurts them, like in this case, we will make sure they are punished,” an FDA Office of Criminal Investigation special agent said.
