Listeria monocytogenes is not like most foodborne bacteria. It grows at refrigerator temperatures. It can cause no symptoms at all — or symptoms that feel like the flu — in otherwise healthy adults. And in pregnant people, it can silently infect a fetus and cause miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or a life-threatening infection in a newborn, with symptoms in the mother that may not appear severe.
The Clover Hill Dairy Listeria outbreak is currently active. Twelve people have been infected, 10 hospitalized, and one person has died. Eighty-eight percent of interviewed patients identified as Hispanic — consistent with requesón being a staple soft cheese in many Hispanic households. The contamination spans at least three years, from March 2023 through June 2026. And critically, Listeria has a documented incubation period of up to 70 days.
