Making Operations
Recall Losses Estimated at $1.5M
Traver - Bravo Farms has resumed its cheese making operation two months after a recall of products made in its Traver plant were linked to an outbreak of E. Coli in several western states.
Jon Van Ryn, chief operations officer and father of company owner Johnathan Van Ryn, said Tuesday production of about 2,000 pounds of cheese per day has resumed after state and federal inspectors found no traces of listeria following a complete dismantling and cleaning of Bravo's facility and equipment.
The company executive estimated shutdown
and recall costs at around $1.5 million.
Bravo, which has specialized in making raw-milk cheeses, is now pasteurizing
its milk.
Van Ryn said that the pasteurization process has not changed the taste of the company's artisan-style products, which have won major awards.
“We've been given the green light” to resume operations, Van Ryn said, reporting that Costco and other buyers of Bravo cheeses have indicated they will be resuming their purchases of company products.
In late November, Costco pulled Bravo's Dutch Style Gouda -- sold in about 50 of its stores – after receiving reports of illness from people who had bought or sampled the cheese at the company's warehouses.
Several days later, all Bravo cheeses were recalled and a subsequent investigation by state health inspectors found listeria at the Traver facility.
According to health officials, listeria is not usually a problem associated with milk itself but can pose a cross-contamination risk if it is present in the environment.
The CDC probe into the E. coli outbreak found that 37 people had become ill after eating the company's cheese. Fifteen needed to be hospitalized and one person reportedly suffered kidney failure. There were no deaths.
The senior Van Ryn said at least five distributors, including one which supplies Bravo Farms cheeses to East Coast restaurants, are awaiting fresh shipments.
Bravo Farms makes and sells its cheeses at its small plant and gift shop in Traver and also operates a restaurant and gift shop at the Horizon Outlet mall in Tulare.
Van Ryan said both locations have resumed sampling and sales of the company's cheeses since both the federal Food and Drug Administration and the California Department of Food and Agriculture gave the company a clean bill of health.
Van Ryn said state and federal agencies “have been very cooperative and have supported us all the way and they like everything we've done” since the recall, adding the source of the listeria was never located.
“Every nut and bolt of our equipment was inspected thoroughly, cleaned or replaced and the walls repainted,” Van Ryn said, adding that a Visalia company, Choice Cleaners, which specializes in dairy product facility cleaning, has been hired to do the work.
The recall also resulted in the reduction of staff by more than half. Currently there are five employees in the cheese factory but the company has plans to increase that number as demand resumes, the senior Van Ryn said.
The above story is the property
of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit
permission in writing from the publisher.