Serious poisoning of two children with E.coli: goat cheese, morbier, raclette cheese… which products are covered by the consumer recall ?

Des dizaines de fromages sont concernées. ILLUSTRATION MAXPPP – Richard Villalon

A second case of serious E.coli poisoning in a child was revealed on Friday February 9, 2024. A wave of consumer recalls concerns dozens of cheese references in France, we take stock.

Two children almost died from the bacteria. E.coli has been detected in several cheese references and could be found in dozens of products now withdrawn from sale.

Consumers are invited to check the lot numbers of certain cheeses in their refrigerator to avoid any risk of contamination. We take stock of this vast Consumer reminder. 

Also read: E. coli bacteria contamination: what are the symptoms of this sometimes fatal infection ?

Dozens of products affected

An unusual red banner on the site Consumer reminder sets the tone: "Recall of numerous lots of cheeses (Morbier, Raclette, Tomme – under different brands and presentations) manufactured by Route des Terroirs and likely to be contaminated by shigatoxigenic Escherichia coli."< /p>

Note that most of these products were withdrawn from sale during December, and that the health authorities have been exercising great vigilance for several weeks.

Dozens of references are concerned, including the main ones (non-exhaustive list):  

Goat cheese – Fromagerie blanc The chevrette – Fromagerie des Gors Ash ring – Fromagerie des Gors Sakura No ha – Fromagerie des Gors Morbier raw milk Barq.FD – Unbranded Ground beef steak – Axuria Morbier AOP raw milk – E.Leclerc Les Sables-d'Olonne Raclette with raw milk – E.Leclerc Les Sables-d'Olonne Raclette with raw milk – Monts et Terroirs Morbier with raw milk – Monts et Terroirs Raclette and morbier duo – Entremont Tray for gourmet trio raclette – Monts et terroirs The medalists' platter – Saveurs de Terroirs Raw milk goat cheeses – Earl Louet Morbier AOP – House of Gruyère Morbier AOP – Neutral selection Morbier AOP – Mountains and terroirs Morbier AOP selection – Mountains and terroirs Morbier AOP prestige – Mountains and terroirs

To ensure that the cheese you have purchased is not contaminated, compare the batch numbers – not all references of the same brand are not affected.

Two children in serious condition

On December 23, 2023, little Elise, 7 years old, bites into a piece of raw milk morbier. On Christmas Eve, the little girl, who lives in the Rhône, complained of stomach aches to her parents, reported in particular Le Progrès  and BFM. 

They took her to the on-call medical center. "They confirmed the diagnosis of gastro because they couldn't see anything else with what they had available and given the symptoms she had", her father tells our colleagues from the news channel in continuous. Later, they will discover that it is E.coli poisoning. 

Already at this period, the government site Rappel Conso warned about the bacteria E.coli. This same bacteria had been at the origin of the scandal of Buitoni pizzas leading to the death of two children in 2022.