Recently, many friends and peers have reached out to me about the 2025 cheese recall due to potential metal fragments (see the Enforcement Report for Great Lakes Cheese Co Inc at https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/ires/?Event=97827). Since I’ve completed the FSPCA Preventive Controls for Human Food Training, I now view recalls through a different lens. Let’s walk through:
- How these incidents happen
- How businesses plan to prevent them
- How to stay updated on recalls
How Do These Things Happen?
Equipment Issues: The tools (such as knives, shredders, and food processors) used in processing may have metal parts that rub against each other, causing fragments to break off over time.
Contaminated Raw Materials: Metal fragments could be present in milk or cheese supplied to the manufacturer. For example:
- Milk from a supplier might already contain fragments. Metal Fragments could enter the milk through metal containers if used for storage or during any part of the process.
- Cheese blocks purchased from another company could have metal contamination from their equipment.
Image created with Microsoft Copilot (AI-generated).
Supply Chain Complexity: Consider this hypothetical scenario below.
- Company A makes cheese from milk purchased from Company B (a pasteurization plant), which buys raw milk from Company C (a dairy). At any point in this chain, contamination could occur.
- According to the enforcement report, the recall reason was listed as “Potential metal fragments from supplier raw material (downstream recall)”, which resembles this example.
How Do Companies Plan to Avoid This?
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Food Safety Plans
A Food Safety Plan is a document that outlines how to control hazards that pose significant health risks to the public. These plans are essential for identifying and preventing hazards from entering our food system. During my training, we learned to develop food safety plans and consider all potential hazards—biological, chemical, and physical. Businesses must account for contamination risks even when products are outside their direct control. -
Food Safety Teams
Having a team with diverse expertise (different departments, job experience/roles, and more) helps identify potential risks and encourages a conversation to mitigate or reduce areas where contamination could occur. -
Preventive Measures
- Metal detectors are often used to catch fragments in shredded cheese.
- Visual checks of smaller equipment before and after use are often a significant step, especially if using materials that are plastic or metal.
- If the shredding process doesn’t utilize metal, then companies might skip detectors. However, there could be other concerns, such as plastic, which would not be detected by the metal detector.
How can you stay updated?
As a consumer, you can stay updated with recalls by viewing the FDA’s “Recalls, Market Withdrawals, & Safety Alerts” page at https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts. On the same page, you can also sign up for the email notifications. The FDA recall notices include products for Animal & Veterinary uses, Animal Feed, Food & Beverages, Cosmetics, and more.
Summary
The 2025 cheese recall highlights how food safety issues can still occur despite preventive measures being in place. In this blog, we explain why recalls happen, how companies work to prevent contamination, and how you can stay informed about recalls.
If you have questions or would like to learn more about food safety, please don’t hesitate to reach out at any time.
Featured Image by: UF/IFAS Photo by Tyler Jones
This blog was reviewed and edited by Dr. Stephanie Brown of UF/IFAS Extension a State Specialized Extension Agent in Food Science.
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