Scary cheese today at work

It is really bugging me. Luckily, we noticed the problem and won't be using it in our processing. Unfortunately, it was bought from a company buying newly expired cheese from grocery stores. That scary cheese was sitting on a grocery shelf somewhere in a package to be taken home by an unsuspecting person.
I don't want to go into details, but smell and examine food you buy before eating it. Cheese that is mushy is a bad sign. Moldy or yeasty or manury smell are also bad signs. After working in this business for a while, I'd also recommend that you heat naturual swiss before eating it.

to suspect each and every bit of food we buy is tainted?

:grr:

Which is why we were aware of the problem. We pass all of our inspections. We do our best to comply with all the laws and recommendations.
As far as the originator of the product, I don't know. My boss was on vacation and I'll talk about it to him when he returns. He has worked in the industry a long time. From him and regulatory people, I do know some of the following:
1. Food companies can break the law and get a warning instead of shut down. That means that they have time to clean up their act. It means though that they didn't have a clean act to begin with.
2. Some quality directors and management assigned to federal and state inspectors are impressive bullshit artists.
3. Some plan for inspections such as one superviser keeping the inspector in the office area while another informs everyone to clean up, put on the white coats, ect.
4. Some areas of the country to not get quality talent when hiring inspectors because they do not pay a competitive enough wage. The best often leave after a few years of experience and training, which enables them to get a good paying job.
5. The federal and state regulatory agencies are often understaffed for post market complaints. Even if there is a complaint, food companies usually can find a way to defend themselves.
I believe that meat plants are the only plants that are required to have federal inspectors on site. Government products (that they give out to poor people) are also inspected and tested by federal employees also.
Despite all this, I am extremely greatful for food laws and regualtions. I can't imagine what things were like before all of this.

It'd be nice if the regulations were tightened up a bit, seeing as how this business of selling expired product to unsuspecting people is going on.

Expired cheese is usually safe for a while afterwards, if it was made and packaged correctly. We use it in small amounts to make processed cheese, which is heated and mixed with other ingredients. Processed cheese is almost always safe because the heat usually kills the bacteria and it is not a good environment for them to grow.
As a safeguard though, we do not use cheese that likely has unexpected coliform, staph, listeria, and spore producers. Cheese that has certain smells and tastes may be suspect, like manure= coliform. We also have a pH limit for the cheese we use (bad bacteria grows better in cheese as it approaches pH 7), which this cheese clearly exceeded.
Although I am glad we did not use it, our customers probably still would have been safe. I am not so sure about any customers who would have bought it the first time around.

I remember when I was pregnant I was warned against eating soft cheeses at all... I wonder if pregnant women would be more at risk of having a reaction from that sort of thing, that other people might not have.

:scared: