Estrella Family Creamery Cheese Sales Restricted

By James Andrews | November 5, 2012 A federal court order has barred Estrella Family Creamery in Montesano, WA from selling cheese out of state, local news station KBKW reported Friday. The order comes two years after the artisan raw-milk cheese producer's facilities and products were subjected to a federal seizure by U.S. Marshals and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October 2010 after more months of testing repeatedly showed Listeria monocytogenes in the creamery's storage environment and in its cheeses. The creamery had been closed from the time of the raid until this past summer, according to another KBKW report. It's been a long, hard fall for the one-time world class cheese maker.  Estrella's Grisdale Goat, a semi-hard goats milk, and its Weebles, a hard-smoked cheese, are past Gold winners in the Dublin World Cheese Awards. When ordering the permanent injunction against interstate sales, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle also ordered Estrella's owners to pay the costs of the 2010 government seizure. That 2010 raid took place after Estrella's owners refused the FDA's request to voluntarily recall products when Listeria turned up in environmental tests at their facilities. No illnesses were ever linked to those Listeria scares. Estrella's history with Listeria began in February 2010, when an inspection by the Washington Department of Agriculture revealed the bacteria both in production areas and in finished cheese products. Another inspection in March found Listeria in one of the caves where soft cheeses aged. That's when Estrella's owners temporarily shut down production and destroyed the cheeses aging in the suspect cave. But in August, two additional FDA inspections found more Listeria in the facilities and in one more sample of cheese. Estrella did not sell any cheese related to those positive tests. The FDA asked the owners to issue a voluntary recall of all products on September 3. They refused, saying that the problem was only with certain batches and that having to recall all their product would essentially put them out of business. The FDA put out a public warning about Estrella's cheeses the next day. The raid occurred shortly thereafter, with officials citing inadequate sanitizing efforts and seizing all of the creamery's cheese. The creamery's owners have not updated their blog in nearly a year. © Food Safety News More Headlines from Food Politics » Tags: Estrella Family Creamery, FDA, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes