The Scandalous Cheese Recall That Killed Dozens and Destroyed A Company

In a world where food trends come and go—where soft cheeses like queso fresco top tacos and Instagram snack boards—it's easy to forget that these seemingly innocent delights can carry deadly risks. But in 1985, the U.S. learned that lesson the hard way, when a cheese recall turned into one of the deadliest foodborne illness outbreaks in the country’s history.

This wasn’t a minor headline. It was a national tragedy.

Between January and August of that year, Los Angeles County saw a shocking spike in a rare bacterial infection called listeriosis. At first, the pattern was hard to detect. But soon, the numbers became impossible to ignore: 142 people infected, mostly pregnant women, and 48 deaths, many of them unborn babies and newborns.

All signs pointed to one common thread—Mexican-style soft cheeses, specifically queso fresco and cotija. The brand at the center? Jalisco Mexican Products, Inc., based in Artesia, California.

As investigators dug deeper, they found the root cause: the cheeses were made with unpasteurized milk contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes—a bacteria that thrives in cool, moist environments and is especially deadly for vulnerable groups like pregnant women, infants, and the elderly.

Unlike other foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella or E. coli, Listeria can survive and even multiply in refrigerated conditions, and it clings stubbornly to surfaces thanks to a protective biofilm. Pasteurization—heating the milk to kill bacteria—could have stopped it. But Jalisco skipped that step.

Even worse, court documents later suggested that Jalisco's leadership knew about their risky processing practices.

The fallout was swift and severe. In June 1985, Jalisco issued a full recall and shut down its operations. It was too late to save lives—or the company. Jalisco's closure gave competitors the space to take over the market, and its reputation never recovered.

The legal consequences were mild compared to the human cost:

• Company president Gary McPherson received 30 days in county jail and two years' probation.

• Cheesemaker Jose Luis Medina served 60 days.

• Both faced fines for over 60 violations related to health, safety, and agricultural laws.

Today, food recalls still happen with alarming regularity. The CDC and FDA issue alerts for everything from contaminated salad greens to tainted deli meats. But the Jalisco case remains a grim reminder of what’s at stake when shortcuts are taken in food safety—especially with soft cheeses, which remain one of the most Listeria-prone foods in the U.S.

So the next time you load up your grocery cart or build a swoon-worthy cheese board, remember: not all cheeses are created equal, and some come with a side of caution. Especially if you’re pregnant or immunocompromised, it’s worth checking the label. Is it pasteurized? Is it from a reputable source?

Because as delicious as queso fresco may be, history shows that what we don’t know about our food can kill us. And in the case of Jalisco, it tragically did.