More Details Emerge on Campylobacter Outbreak From Family Cow MIlk in PA, MD
Family Cow raw milk associated with a Campylobacter outbreak in Pennsylvania and Maryland was sold, among other places, at the Healthy Grocer in Camp Hill, Pa., and at various drop points and health food stores across the state.
The Family Cow website lists 29 total drop points for the milk around Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, south-central Pennsylvania and eastern Pennsylvania. At least 25 health food stores are listed as retailers of the farm's products.
Customers reported having high fever, diarrhea and the chills and health officials have confirmed that three people in Pennsylvania and three people in Maryland became infected by Camplyobacter bacteria, a dangerous pathogen emitted from cows and other animals in their feces. Campylobacter is one of several enteric bacteria associated with raw milk food illness outbreaks.
The Family Cow dairy of the Chambersburg area issued a news release advising customers with raw milk marked with a "best by'' date in January to discard it. The dairy advises customers who have milk with a “best by” date in February to hold the milk until testing reports come in. More results are expected Monday. Sales have been halted until at least Tuesday.
A broader warning has been issued by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Department of Health: Consumers should discard any product purchased from this farm since January 1, 2012.
The implicated milk is labeled “raw milk” (meaning, not pasteurized) and is sold under “The Family Cow” label in plastic gallon, half gallon, quart and pint containers.
National food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., is investigating this outbreak and accepting cases from families and individuals who have fallen ill. The firm currently represents a Mars, Pennsylvania, family in a raw milk Campylobacter lawsuit filed in 2010 in Allegheny County. In that case, a healthy 67-year-old man who drank contaminated raw milk suffered respiratory failure and acute neuromuscular paralysis from a complication of Campylobacter infection known as Guillain Barre syndrome, or GBS.
Source: The Patriot-News
