Yes, The Associated Press Wrote a Story About “Hispanic-Style Cheese” Listeria Outbreak

Feb 22, 2014
5:17 PM

In all seriousness, a story about listeria leading to one death and making three newborns sick is tragic, but we are still scratching our heads when we saw the following headline from an Associated Press article, as well as the first sentence from that very same article:

HispanicStye

Thinking it was a joke, we Googled the AP’s opening sentence and these showed up: the headlines listed below don’t say “Hispanic-Style Cheese,” the but first sentence of the AP story links does. And the “Hispanic-style cheese” copy came from AP as well.

Hispanic-style cheese

Hispanic-style cheese7

The AP story mentioned that such “Hispanic-style cheese” was made by Roos Foods, a company located in Kenton, Delaware. Roos produces the following “Hispanic-style cheese” products, according to the AP: Santa Rosa de Lima, Amigo, Mexicana, Suyapa, La Chapina and La Purisima Crema Nica.

Last time we checked on the company’s site, these types of cheeses are all made in the United States. So why did the AP have to call it out as “Hispanic-style cheese?”

We sent an email to the AP for clarification, since its story never really explained what “Hispanic-style cheese” is. Can’t wait to hear what they tell us, because in the end, the story of people dying isn’t about “Hispanic-style cheese,” it’s about how a U.S. company allowed for this to happen.

Maybe the AP should have taken the lead from other outlets who got the reporting of this one right.

Why did the cheese have to be “Hispanic?”