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FoodQualitynews.com <br />Breaking News on Food Safety & Quality Control <br />Chapel Hill Creamery link to Salmonella illnesses <br />Meanwhile in a different incident, Chapel Hill Creamery in North Carolina has recalled all its <br />cheese because of a link to an outbreak of Salmonella. <br /> <br /> <br />Picture: Chapel Hill Creamery website. Pheta cheese. <br />Salmonella infection has been identified in people who ate Chapel Hill Creamery products. <br />A matching strain has been found in milk from the creamery used during preparation of the <br />cheese products. <br />Products were distributed through retail locations, Farmer’s Markets or restaurants throughout <br />North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. <br />Colleen Bridger, Orange County health director, told us it was investigating more than 100 cases <br />of Salmonella that have the same strain as the raw milk that tested positive. <br />However, as it was a fairly common strain the state lab is doing genetic testing to determine <br />exact matches and it will be weeks before exact numbers are known. <br />Asked why all products were withdrawn, she said for Chapel Hill Creamery it was the fastest, <br />most conservative approach. <br />"The owners wanted to err on the side of caution and therefore pulled all their cheeses until the <br />investigation could more definitively identify the source," she said. <br />Portia McKnight, co-founder of the creamery, said: "Although there is not yet a definitive link <br />between the CHC cheese and the illnesses, there is enough evidence to implicate the cheese and <br />we are asking customers to not consume these cheeses or use them in food service.”