9 sickened in E. coli outbreak tied to a California company’s raw milk and cheese
Nine people, including children, have been sickened following a growing outbreak of E. coli food poisoning linked to raw milk and cheddar cheese made from Raw Farm, a producer in Fresno, Calif., health officials said.
Two cases in California were added Thursday to the epidemic first announced on March 15, bringing the total number of sick people in the state to seven. Two others became ill in Texas and Florida, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than half of illnesses affect children under 5 years old. Three people were hospitalized and one developed a dangerous type of kidney infection, the CDC said.
No deaths have been reported in this outbreak.
Interest and sales of raw milk have increased in recent years, fueled by social media and growing support for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement. Raw milk has not been pasteurized, which kills germs like E. coli, salmonella, listeria and campylobacter.
Illnesses were confirmed from September to mid-February. Of eight people surveyed by health authorities, seven reported eating Raw Farm brand products, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Two people in 2025 reported drinking raw farm milk and five people in 2026 reported eating or receiving raw farm cheddar cheese.
Genetic sequencing of strains of E. coli from sick people shows that they are all closely related, indicating that the people involved in the outbreak “share a common source of infection,” the FDA said.
FDA officials previously advised Raw Farm to recall its raw milk cheddar cheese from stores, but the company refused. To date, 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 power to remove Raw Farm products from stores. FDA officials did not say whether the agency would do so.
FDA and state health officials conducted an inspection at a Raw Farm site. The CDC advised consumers to “consider not eating this cheese while the investigation continues.”
— The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
