A major food safety scandal in France has seen more than 40 varieties of cheese taken from supermarket shelves over fears of listeria contamination.
The crisis was linked to a single dairy that appeared to have been under suspicion for months.
Since August 9, leading retailers in the country, including Lidl, Carrefour, Auchan, Leclerc and U, have issued recalls of cheeses.
The affected products may bear different brands but they all traced back to the same source: The Chaverand cheese dairy in Maison-Feyne, Creuse, central France.
The same facility had already been forced into recalls in June over identical Listeria concerns, according to consumer watchdog Foodwatch.
The NGO accused the producer and authorities of alleged gross negligence. In a statement on August 12, it alleged evidence suggested contamination had been present since at least April 2025, despite laws prohibiting the sale of foods posing health risks.
“The cheeses produced by this company, which supplies almost all of France’s major retailers, should have been kept under close scrutiny.
“It is clear that this was not the case. We are now in firefighting mode, reacting when it is too late. This health scandal could have been avoided,” the group alleged.
Listeria monocytogenes, the bacterium at the heart of the scandal, can cause listeriosis, an infection often marked by muscle aches, fever and headaches, but which can prove deadly in vulnerable individuals.
French authorities have already confirmed 21 cases matching the same bacterial profile, 18 of which have emerged since early June. The victims range in age from 34 to 95.
Two people have died, one who had underlying health conditions.
Cheese recalls have also been issued in Germany and Belgium.
In Belgium, a shipment of French cheese has been pulled from shelves, while in Germany, at least two of the three recalled products, the Camembert de Caractère Vieux Porche and the Camembert Charles VII, were sold in selected Rewe stores in the country.
The affair has stirred memories of 2018, when contaminated frozen vegetables from Hungary were sold across Europe, killing nine people and sickening dozens more.
The variety of Listeria was found in a French factory and was linked to the strain responsible for the epidemic.
Foodwatch said that disaster, too, was marked by alleged secrecy and slow action and warned that lessons have still not been learned.
