Cabot Creamery butter recalled for fecal bacteria contamination
Cabot Creamery butter shipped to seven states, including New York, has been recalled due to contamination from bacteria often found in fecal matter.
The specific butter — Cabot Creamery 8-ounce Extra Creamy Premium Butter, Sea Salted — was originally distributed to New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire and Arkansas, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Cabot Creamery's parent company, Agri-Mark, said it successfully pulled 99.5% of the contaminated butter off shelves before it was sold to customers. Seventeen retail packages were sold in Vermont, according to the company, which said it had addressed the root cause of the contamination.
The FDA classified the recall as Class III, meaning it was 'not likely to cause adverse health consequences.' No health issues have been reported in connection with the butter.
'There have been a variety of news reports that are incomplete and have dramatically misrepresented this recall with respect to the risk it posed to consumers,' Agri-Mark wrote Wednesday in a press release.
The butter was contaminated with coliform, a bacteria strain that is usually present in the digestive tracts of humans and animals. Additionally, coliform bacteria are commonly found in polluted water systems, and testing for it is often used to determine the safety of drinking water.
E. coli is the most well-known version of coliform bacteria, but it was not mentioned in the FDA recall notice.
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