Kraft Cheese Recall: String Cheese Pulled After Spoiling Early, Changing Color

Kraft is instituting a cheese recall after some varieties of string cheese were found to spoil and change color before their expiration date.

The company announced Friday that close to 735,000 cases of string cheese were shipped to stores in the United States with expiration dates ranging from October 25 through February 11. The affected products are from the Kraft and Polly-O String Cheese and String Cheese Twists product lines.

The Kraft cheese recall was instituted after several reports from customers about string cheese going bad. In addition to the recall, Kraft has stopped production and distribution on the affected products and is looking into the reason they are expiring early. The tainted products all came from a plant in Campbell, New York.

The company said people who have the affected products should not eat them, and can return them for either an exchange or refund. Consumers also can contact Kraft Foods Consumer Relations at 1 (800) 816-9432 between 9 am and 6 pm EST.

This is not the first recall for Kraft Foods Group related to string cheese. In October 2012 the company recalled the Jalapeno variety of its string cheese as a precaution due to a thin layer of plastic film from the package. The plastic sometimes became adhered to the cheese, and if not removed it became a potential choking hazard.

Earlier this year, two bloggers also circulated a petition to get the company to remove artificial dyes from its macaroni and cheese products. The bloggers said that the dyes — specifically yellow dyes 5 and 6 — added no taste to the product but did have a potential danger to customers.

The full Kraft cheese recall list can be found here.