Canada issues cheese recall
A major Canadian grocer recalled multiple cheese products over a potential listeria risk and urged shoppers to check refrigerators. (dailyhive.com) The recall received a critical update naming an additional product — paneer — that hadn’t been listed at first, so anyone with soft or fresh cheeses should double‑check the full list. (thehealthy.com)
This recall is messier than “throw out one block of cheese.” The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said on April 8 that Sobeys Capital products containing cheese were recalled for possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination, and the list runs from pasta salads to wraps to seafood stuffed with spinach and artichoke. (canada.ca) The products were sold across nine provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan. The notice names Sobeys banner stores including Foodland, IGA, Safeway, Sobeys, Co-op, and Thrifty Foods. (canada.ca) A lot of the recalled items are store-made prepared foods, which makes this harder to spot in a home fridge. The agency listed variable-weight deli items like Creamy Carbonara Pasta Salad with Bacon and Peas, Creamy Garlic and Spinach Pasta Salad, and Parmesan or Spinach Feta cauliflower cakes with best-before dates up to April 5, April 6, April 7, or April 8, 2026, depending on the item. (canada.ca) British Columbia shoppers got an extra wrinkle because several Thrifty Foods products were included on the same April 8 notice. Those items include a Chicken and Black Bean Wrap and multiple raw seafood products stuffed with spinach and artichoke, all tied to best-before dates up to April 5, April 6, or April 7, 2026. (canada.ca) This also lands on top of a separate Canada-wide cheese recall updated on April 2. That earlier notice covered retail brands like Bothwell, Only Goodness, Paradise Island Cheese, and Western Family, plus larger bulk packs sold to hotels, restaurants, institutions, and manufacturers. (canada.ca) One reason these recalls keep widening is that cheese often shows up as an ingredient instead of the thing on the front label. Food Safety News reported that the Sobeys recall spans a “wide variety of products containing cheese,” which is why a pasta salad or cauliflower cake can end up on the same warning as cheese itself. (foodsafetynews.com) Listeria is the part that makes public health agencies move fast even before illnesses are confirmed. Health Canada says symptoms of invasive listeriosis can appear within 2 weeks but may take up to 3 months, and the people at highest risk are pregnant people, adults older than 60, and people with weakened immune systems. (canada.ca) The bacteria also do something most food-poisoning bugs do poorly: they can keep growing in the cold. Health Canada says Listeria can proliferate at standard refrigeration temperatures, which is why “just keep it in the fridge” is not a safety plan here. (canada.ca) The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says contaminated food may not look spoiled or smell spoiled, so the decision is not “sniff it and see.” Its advice is blunt: do not consume, serve, use, sell, or distribute the recalled products, and throw them out or return them. (canada.ca) If you bought soft cheese, shredded cheese, deli salads, or prepared foods from a Sobeys banner store this month, the safest move is to check the full recall list instead of guessing from memory. The agency says its food safety investigation is ongoing, which means more products can still be added. (canada.ca)
