The owner of a cheese factory where employees did not wash their arms before using them to stir cheese curds pleaded guilty Tuesday to two misdemeanors related to an outbreak of the listeria bacteria that allegedly caused the deaths of two people.
“This investigation and prosecution holds accountable the defendant and his company who, through unsafe practices, caused illness and death of consumers in an entirely preventable tragedy,” U.S. Attorney Carla B. Freedman of the District said Tuesday northern New York, per press release, according to CBS News.
Johannes Vulto, the owner of Vulto Creamery in Walton, New York, reportedly pleaded guilty Tuesday to causing the introduction of contaminated food into several states after his company was at the origin of a major outbreak of listeria bacteria.
Because the investigation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates foodstuffs and drugs in the United States, reportedly revealed that cheese factory employees did not wash their arms before using them to stir and break the cheese curds.
What’s more, one of them had multiple cuts and abrasions on his arms while he was working on the task, noted the American media.
Between December 2014 and March 2017, the cheese company reportedly tested positive several times for listeria bacteria, before its soft raw cheese products led to the hospitalization of eight individuals, and the death of two others between 2016 and 2017.
A federal court finally forced the owner out of business in 2017, after prohibiting him from producing or distributing food in the future.
The date of the sentence has not yet been determined, according to the American media.
