Newly released state records show that raw milk from a California farm has been linked to dozens of salmonella cases. This is a much larger outbreak than was previously thought.
The records show that as of February, at least 165 people got salmonella illnesses from eating foods from Fresno, California’s Raw Farm. They say it is the biggest salmonella case in the U.S. in the last ten years that has been linked to raw milk.
As health officials tell people to stay away from unpasteurized milk because of a bird flu virus that is spreading in U.S. dairy cows, the size of the outbreak is now known. Scientists have found Type A H5N1 bird flu in more than 140 dairy herds in the U.S. They have also found high amounts of the virus in raw milk.
Since October, when about a dozen cases of salmonella were reported in San Diego, state and county health officials hadn’t told the public about the full scope of the outbreak. That time, Raw Farm offered to take back milk and heavy cream that were sold from October 11 to November 6.
However, more cases were being filed, according to records that were given to The Associated Press by Seattle food safety lawyer Bill Marler. Marler said that 16 of his clients got sick during the outbreak.
Records show that investigators matched samples from sick people with samples from a farm and a shop. When people with proven infections were asked if they ate Raw Farm products, more than 60% said they did. People from four states got sick, but 162 of them were from California, making up the vast majority. Records show that four of the people who had salmonella also had campylobacter and/or dangerous E. coli bugs.
Officials said that almost 40% of the illnesses were in kids younger than 5 years old. Twenty people were taken to the hospital. There were no reports of deaths.
California’s health officials said on Wednesday that they had done a “robust” investigation with the help of local teams and state farm officials. They told the public about the outbreak through a recall notice in October and posts on social media in October, November, and December. Officials said the outbreak was over on May 4. It’s not clear if there were more cases after February.
The owner of Raw Farm, Mark McAfee, admitted that his goods played a role in the outbreak. He said that last fall, one cow got salmonella and had to be taken out of the group. He said that in reaction to the outbreak, he added more testing rules.
Jessie McGee, 35, of San Pedro, California, said she is going to sue Raw Farm because her 6-year-old daughter got an infection from the outbreak and had to go to the hospital in October. McGee said she started drinking Raw Farm products and giving them to her daughter and her twin 2-year-olds after reading online that raw milk was good for you. She said that all three of her children and McGee got sick, but her older daughter’s high fever and stomach cramps were the worst.
From now on, McGee says she won’t drink milk that hasn’t been sterilized.
She said, “None of the possible benefits you might get from the milk is worth any of that.”