Nine people, including children, have become ill in a large outbreak of E. coli food poisoning linked to raw milk and Cheddar cheese Health officials said it was manufactured using Raw Farm, a producer in Fresno, California.
Two cases were added in California on Thursday to an outbreak first announced on March 15, bringing the total number of patients in that state to seven. Two others were infected with the disease in Texas and Florida, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that more than half of the diseases affect children younger than 5 years old. Three people were taken to hospital, and one of them developed a serious type of kidney infection.
No deaths have been reported in this outbreak.
Interest in and sales of raw milk has been growing in recent years, driven by social media and growing support from Secretary of Health Robert Kennedy Jr. “Make America Healthy Again” movement.. Raw milk has not been pasteurized, which kills germs such as E. coli, salmonella, listeria, and campylobacter.
The disease was confirmed from September to mid-February. Of the eight people interviewed by health officials, seven reported consuming Raw Farm brand products, according to the FDA. Two people in 2025 reported drinking Raw Farm milk, and five people in 2026 said they ate or were served raw cheddar cheese from Raw Farm.
The FDA said genetic sequencing of E. coli strains taken from sick people shows they are all closely related, suggesting that people in an outbreak “share a common source of infection.”
FDA officials previously advised Raw Farm to pull raw milk cheddar cheese from stores, but the company refused. So far, no Raw Farm products have tested positive for E. coli, the agency said.
Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro and members of the Congressional Food Safety Caucus urged the FDA to use its mandatory recall authority to recall Raw Farm products from stores. FDA officials have not said whether the agency will do so.
Food and Drug Administration and state health officials conducted an inspection at the raw farm site. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised consumers to “consider not eating this cheese while the investigation is ongoing.”
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