Panera Bread over the weekend said it is voluntarily recalling all 2-ounce and 8-ounce cream cheese products after limited samples revealed the presence of the bacteria listeria monocytogenes.
The company said nobody has been sickened, and that the positive result came from a single production day of the cream cheese. Tests on samples manufactured before and after that run have come back negative.
Still, the company said it would recall all varieties of cream cheese sold in its restaurants with an expiration date on or before April 2, 2018, out of “an abundance of caution.” The recall affects cream cheese sold in Panera’s U.S. bakery cafes and does not affect Panera’s Canadian cafes or other food products.
Blaine Hurst, Panera’s CEO, said that the company has stopped manufacturing in the facility in question.
Listeria can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people or those with weakened immune systems. An estimated 1,600 people get listeriosis each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 260 people die.
The recall affects 2-ounce and 8-ounce varieties of plain, reduced fat, reduced fat chive and onion, reduced fat honey walnut and reduced fat wild blueberry cream cheese.
For more information, customers can contact Panera Bread’s customer service line at 1-855-6-PANERA from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. CST or visit www.panerabread.com/recall.
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