If you're a fan of Sargento cheese -- and if you have a pack or two sitting in your refrigerator at home -- you probably don't want to open it, because the cheese-making company is one of several that just issued a massive recall due to Listeria monocytogenes.
Here's the timeline, for those curious:
Amish Classic's Colby Jack cheese tested positive for Listeria in a Tennessee lab so, of course, the producer of the cheese (which is Deutsch Kase Haus, LLC) then instructed anybody who carried cheese made in the Listeria-positive facility to recall their products immediately.
Sargento's Longhorn Colby and Nacho & Taco cheese were produced by Deutsch Kase Haus, and therefore both products have been recalled. Additionally, Sargento recalled cheeses that were packaged on the same line as the two red-flagged cheeses just to ensure safety.
That means Sargento's Colby Jack, Pepper Jack, Cheddar Jack and Taco cheeses have also been recalled.
Fortunately, nobody has yet reported an illness related to the cheeses. Listeria is a nasty infection and can cause a wide range of terrible side-effects, including fevers, joint stiffness to nausea, miscarriages in pregnant women, and sometimes even death in particularly vulnerable people (those with weakened immune systems due to meningitis, for example).