There’s a soft cheese floating around grocery stores and farmers markets right now that has put people in the hospital, and the ones getting hit hardest are over 65. It goes by the name requesón, a soft, crumbly cheese that tastes a lot like ricotta. You’ll find it in Mexican and Central American cooking, scooped into tamales, stuffed into pupusas, or spread on toast. If there’s a tub of it in your fridge, do me a favor and go check the label before you read another word. I’ll be here.
Federal officials have tied this cheese to a Listeria outbreak that has already turned deadly. One company in Maryland is at the center of it, and the recall keeps growing. Here’s the whole story, plus exactly what to do if you bought any.
The cheese that kicked this all off
The maker is Clover Hill Dairy, a small operation out of Mechanicsville, Maryland. On June 5, the company recalled its requesón, also labeled as soft ricotta. Then on June 18, it widened the recall to cover every single cheese product it makes, not just the requesón. That’s a big move. When a company yanks its entire lineup instead of one item, it usually means investigators can’t yet promise the problem stops at one product.
The cheese was sold a bunch of different ways. Some came in 10, 12, and 14 ounce clamshell containers, the clear plastic ones you’d grab off a shelf. Other batches went out in giant 2 gallon and 5 gallon buckets to businesses that scooped it out and repackaged it themselves. That bucket part matters, and I’ll explain why in a minute. The Maryland Department of Health has since suspended the company’s license while they sort it out.
Small numbers, serious damage
This outbreak isn’t huge by the numbers. Nine people across three states (Maryland, New York, and Virginia) have been confirmed sick from the same strain. But look closer. Eight of those nine ended up in the hospital, and one person in Maryland has died. That’s a brutal ratio. When almost everyone who catches something gets hospitalized, you pay attention even if the headcount is low.
Investigators interviewed eight of the sick people. Six said they’d eaten cheese, and two specifically named Clover Hill requesón. Combine that with lab work and you get a clear trail back to the dairy. Six samples of the requesón tested positive for the outbreak strain, and so did a sample taken from inside the facility itself. That’s about as close to a smoking gun as food investigators get.
It’s hiding under names you wouldn’t expect
Remember those buckets? Here’s the catch. Other businesses bought the bulk cheese and repackaged it under their own labels. So even if you’ve never heard of Clover Hill Dairy, you might have its cheese in your kitchen under a totally different name.
The brand names to watch for, according to federal investigators, are Kesso, Quesos La Ricura, Izalco, De Mi Pueblo, and Rio Lindo. And because retail stores often repacked the cheese themselves, the labeling and date codes can change from store to store. Translation: there’s no single sticker or lot number you can memorize. If you bought soft requesón recently and you’re in one of the affected areas, the smart move is to assume the worst and toss it.
Where this cheese actually ended up
The cheese was distributed across six places: Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. It moved through bulk distributors, regular retail stores, and even directly to customers at the company’s own market and at farmers markets.
That last detail is the kind of thing people skip over. Farmers market cheese feels safe and homemade, like something a friend whipped up. But “local” and “small batch” don’t mean a thing can’t carry Listeria. And once the cheese left those buckets and got passed along to other sellers, officials admit it could have traveled well beyond those six locations. If you live nearby or shop at markets that sell Latin American cheeses, this is your zone.
A second company got pulled in too
Clover Hill isn’t the only name in this mess. A distributor called Nelson & Isa Lacteos, based in Bay Shore, New York, also issued its own recall. The company pulled 1 pound packages of requesón sold in clear plastic clamshell containers at New York retail spots between May 15 and May 28, 2026.
Same story here: the cheese was likely repacked at the store level, so the labels and codes vary depending on where you grabbed it. If you bought a one pound tub of requesón at a New York shop in the back half of May, that’s the one. Don’t take chances with it just because the package looks fine. Listeria doesn’t change the smell, the color, or the taste of food.
This problem has been brewing for years
Here’s the part that genuinely surprised me. This isn’t a fresh problem that popped up last month. It’s a multi-year outbreak. When investigators ran the genetic fingerprints, they found matching samples from sick people going as far back as March 2023. The most recent one was collected in May 2026.
Think about that timeline. The same strain may have been sitting in that facility, quietly making people sick, for more than three years before anyone connected the dots and pulled the cheese. A sample taken from inside the plant matched the outbreak strain, which is how they finally nailed it down. It’s a reminder that the gap between “a few people got sick” and “we found the source” can stretch out for years.
Why older Americans keep showing up in these stories
You’ll notice these cheese stories almost always mention people 65 and up. That’s not a coincidence, and it’s not fearmongering. As the body gets older, the systems that catch and clear out bad bacteria slow down. The stomach makes less acid, food moves through slower, and the immune system isn’t as quick on the draw as it once was.
The result is stark. Nearly half of people 65 and older who get a lab-confirmed foodborne illness end up in the hospital. That’s why this same group keeps showing up at the front of recall news. Soft, fresh cheeses like requesón, queso fresco, and queso blanco are already on the official list of foods that older adults are told to handle with extra care, even when there’s no recall going on.
One thing worth knowing: aging can dull your sense of smell and taste, which means spoiled or off food is easier to eat by accident. With Listeria that doesn’t even matter much, since contaminated food usually tastes completely normal. You can’t sniff your way out of this one.
What to do if you’ve got this cheese
Don’t eat it, don’t serve it, and definitely don’t try to salvage it by cooking it down or scooping off the top. Either throw it in the trash or take it back to the store where you bought it for a refund. Simple as that.
Then clean. Listeria can survive in a cold fridge, and it spreads to other foods and surfaces easily. So wipe down the shelves, the drawers, any containers that touched the cheese, and the counter where you set it. Officials specifically warn about this because a contaminated tub can leave the bug behind long after the cheese is gone.
One more thing. If you ate any of this cheese and you start feeling off, pay attention to the timing. Symptoms can show up the same day, but they can also wait as long as 10 weeks. So if you’ve got a fever, muscle aches, a stiff neck, confusion, or trouble keeping your balance in the weeks ahead, call your doctor and mention the recalled cheese specifically. That detail can save a lot of guesswork.
Look, soft cheese is delicious, and I’m not telling anyone to swear it off forever. But this particular batch out of Maryland is one to clear out of your kitchen today. The investigation is still going, more products could get added, and the company already pulled everything it makes. When in doubt, toss the requesón and skip the gamble.
