Thus far, Raw Farm LLC’s raw milk products have caused illness in over 165 people, the majority of whom are youngsters.
According to information that Food Safety News was able to obtain from the California Department of Health and the California Division of Communicable Disease Control, the Salmonella epidemic has sickened 165 people in four states. Twelve sick people were being reported to the department of health previously. The reports that date back to February of this year are the most recent. This past month was the most recent illness to be reported.
“In my more than thirty years of practice, I have been an outspoken supporter of strong public health participation in sickness, particularly in the prevention of foodborne illnesses. The more I think about it, the more difficult it is for me to understand why public health would ignore the scientific evidence that a food producer of a known high-risk food is sickening hundreds of people when there are at least 165 sick, 20 hospitalized, and 40% of the ill five years or younger.
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Raw milk is particularly dangerous. This includes resounding epidemiological proof that milk and humans share the same WGS pattern. Putting aside the argument for “food freedom,” which holds that people should be allowed to eat, drink, and raise their children how they like, how about we just present the facts to the public and let them make their own decisions? stated Food Safety News publisher and Seattle-based lawyer Bill Marler.
Due to underreporting, the actual number of patients in the outbreak is probably far greater than what the Division of Communicable Disease Control recorded. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 29 unreported cases for every confirmed case of Salmonella in an outbreak.
Organic Pastures, a company formerly known as Raw Farm LLC, is connected to the outbreak.
Two reports that Food Safety News was able to receive had some sections deleted. Fall 2023 saw the start of the outbreak that was the subject of the reports. In the outbreak that affected 165 people, the median age of the victims was seven.
The Division of Communicable Disease Control’s study states that “Organic Pastures, aka Raw Farm, a brand of raw milk, and other brands of raw milk have been linked to multiple previous outbreaks (of) STEC O157, STEC O103, Campylobacter.”
According to the FDA, there has been no outbreak of Salmonella linked to raw milk in the last ten years, and this one has affected 165 cases. The outbreak strain of Salmonella was detected in raw milk samples from the Raw Farm dairy and raw milk inpatient residences.
Hospitalization occurs in 14% of patients who have the necessary information.
On October 24, 2023, Raw Farm stopped producing and issued a recall; on October 31, they started selling again. Ninety-three percent of the patients for whom data was available said they had consumed raw milk from Raw Farm LLC.
About raw milk
The California Division of Communicable Disease Control states that raw or unpasteurized milk is not certified organic or grass-fed. The topic is pasteurization. Numerous recalls and outbreaks have revealed that unpasteurized milk is contaminated with one or more pathogens, such as Salmonella, E. Coli, Listeria, Campylobacter, and Brucella.
Unpasteurized raw milk was linked to 143 incidents between 2009 and 2021.
The California Division of Communicable Disease states that “pasteurization is thought to be one of public health’s most effective food safety interventions.”
“Millions of people contracted tuberculosis, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, and other ailments before its use.”
About 20 years after pasteurization for wine was first invented in the 1850s, it was used to milk as well. The practice of pasteurizing milk became commonplace in the 1920s and 1930s. Nowadays, federal law forbids the selling of raw milk over state boundaries.
It has been repeatedly demonstrated that pasteurization does not lessen the health benefits of milk.
