WI Raw Milk Outbreak Could Lead to Criminal Charges
State and county officials in Wisconsin are considering whether criminal charges should be filed against a family farm in Elkhorn that sold raw milk associated with a Wisconsin raw milk Campylobacter outbreak.
Walworth County Assistant District Attorney Zeke Wiedenfeld told the Janesville Gazette newspaper that it's a crime in Wisconsin to sell raw milk. But he said it could take another couple of weeks for officials to decide what to do in the case of Zinniker Farm selling the unpasteurized product under a program whereby customers supposedly share ownership of a cow.
The farm in southeastern Wisconsin has been associated with an outbreak of Campylobacter jejuni that sickened at least 35 people, including one who was hospitalized. State health officials stepped in to shut down the distribution of raw milk and found the same genetic strain of Campylobacter in cow feces on the farm as was found in 25 of the patients.
Farm families can legally drink raw milk produced on their farms, but the state forbids the sale of any raw milk to outsiders who don't own the farm itself unless the buyer is a pasteurized dairy processor.
Prosecutors have met with farm owners Mark and Petra Zinniker in addition to officials at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. The Zinnikers have declined to offer public comment so far.
Most people recover from Campylobacter infection within two to five days and sometimes closer to 10 days. But there is a risk of long-term health consequences associated with the disease, even after diarrhea, stomach pain and other symptoms subside. Some people develop arthritis. Others come down with the rare disease of Guillain-Barre' syndrome, an attack on the body's nerve system that can lead to temporary paralysis. An estimated one in 1,000 people who contract Campylobacter also develop Guillain-Barre'.
If you or a loved one have been sickened in this WI raw milk outbreak, regardless of your beliefs about the safety of drinking raw milk, contact an attorney at PritzkerOlsen, P.A. We are a national food safety and food poisoning law firm that has a national reputation for representing victims of foodborne illness and making recoveries from insurance companies.
Over the years we have recovered tens of millions of dollars for patients who have been affected by diarrheal, foodborne illnesses and associated complications, including Guillain-Barre' syndrome.
For more information and to talk to one of our attorneys free of charge, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free). Or, to receive a free case consultation from a lawyer who has handled Campylobacter cases in the past, submit one of our online forms with your contact information and description of your experience.
do you guys peruse the newspapers online to find possible money making opportunities? you must have read the many rehashes of the DATCP press release all over the media and realize that getting one or two of "raw milk sickened consumers" would be good for business. what a shame. if someone wants to pursue legal action, let them come to you, don't go soliciting scared consumers. the reality is that anyone who does get sick from drinking raw milk has no one to blame but themselves. my family and i drink raw milk when we can obtain it. if we were to contract some sort of sickness as a result, that would be a result of our own well-informed decision to drink it.
why don't you have a posting about the contaminated well water that resulted in Wisconsin as a result of 1400 cows crammed onto a concrete pad? i'm sure you can find information about it in the journal or even in the NY Times, if I recall.
Katie, we understand that many people advocate drinking raw milk, but we have seen the effects of food poisoning and stand firmly on the side of food safety.
When someone is sickened by raw milk, it means that somewhere along the line someone has allowed feces (poop) to get into the milk. This is a matter of poor sanitation, and we believe anyone sickened by this should be fully and fairly compensated.
As food safety lawyers, we are part of the food safety system and help prevent foodborne outbreaks by providing a deterrent to negligently unsanitary behavior.
People who have not experienced serious foodborne illness do not understand the gravity of the situation. We have had clients who were hospitalized for weeks fighting for their lives. We have represented families of people who died painful deaths. We would be heartless if we did not do whatever we could to prevent these life-threatening illnesses.