Nine people from three states reported becoming infected with a strain of E. coli in an outbreak linked to raw dairy products from a California farm, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Of those, three people were hospitalized, and one person developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can cause kidney failure.
No deaths have been reported.
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These illnesses started between Sept. 1, 2025 and Feb. 20, 2026, and affected seven people in California, one in Texas and one in Florida. Half of them occurred in children under the age of five years old.
Seven people said they recalled eating raw dairy products from Raw Farm, a family-owned company in Fresno. Five people said they remember eating its brand of cheddar cheese.
Although the FDA said any Raw Farm brand milk from 2025 should not be sold, its president, Aaron McAfee, told NBC News he won’t voluntarily recall his products unless he gets “direct proof” they’re making people sick.
“We’ve sampled 81 samples that we purchased off retail stores in California, where we continue to sell,” McAfee said, “and those were all negative.”
Three investigators from the FDA were at the facility testing products both at the company and retailers, McAfee said to NBC. Test results from those investigators won’t be available until next week.
When milk from Raw farm was connected to salmonella cases in 2024, though, the company issued a voluntary recall in that case.
FDA warns against raw milk products
Raw dairy products are those that have not been pasteurized or heated to a specific temperature for a set period of time. Along with E. coli, raw milk can have listeria, salmonella, campylobacter, as well as others that cause food poisoning.
It can “harbor dangerous germs that can pose serious health risks to you and your family,” the Food and Drug Administration warns.
From 1998 through 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, there were 202 outbreaks tied to drinking raw milk. These caused 2,645 illnesses and 228 hospitalizations.
