Raw milk, E. coli, campylobacter and 6 children among 21 Floridians sickened
With seven people hospitalized among 21 people with E. coli or campylobacter infections linked to raw milk, the Florida Department of Health issued an alert, of sorts.
Monday’s “Raw Milk Update” defined raw milk; put forth arguments used by pro-raw milk and anti-raw milk sides; said the 21 sicknesses were connected to raw milk from the same farm; but, didn’t name the farm.
“Sanitation practices in this farm are of particular concern due to the number of cases,” the Department of Health said.
The Department of Health did say all the people ill were from Northeast Florida and Central Florida and six are children under the age of 10.
Here’s what else you need to know.
What’s raw milk?
Raw milk, as opposed to the milk most people use, hasn’t been pasteurized. The process, named after 19th century French chemist Louis Pasteur, uses heat to kill pathogens in food.
Raw milk advocates say it helps cure a number of health issues, tastes better and is healthier than milk.
“Consumers have reported benefits of raw milk consumption, including better tastes and protective effects for asthma and allergies,” the Department of Health said.
The FDA and CDC warn about health risks such as E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter outbreaks, such as the current situation in Florida and occurred in California, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington in 2023 and 2024. Monday’s alert threw listeria into the infections ferried by raw milk.
In Florida, selling raw milk for human consumption is verboten, but allowed for pets and animals.
Though the FDA bans the sale of raw milk across state lines, perhaps the most well-known raw milk fan, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., now sits in the Health and Human Services Secretary Chair and the FDA’s under his purview. Kennedy has railed against the FDA’s policies on raw milk, although The Fresno Bee reported that Fresno’s Raw Farms’ founder Mark McAfee has been disappointed at the speed Kennedy’s moved in freeing raw milk from FDA restrictions.
McAfee said of Kennedy, a past raw milk customer, “We are all disappointed that RFK is just a consumer of raw milk and not the warrior and advocate that he said he was.”
What’s campylobacter?
“People most commonly get campylobacter infection by eating raw or undercooked poultry,” the CDC said. “Eating other contaminated foods, drinking untreated water, and touching animals that carry campylobacter can also cause infection.”
If you get campylobacter, expect fever, stomachaches and diarrhea for up to seven days.
What type of E. coli infections are in this outbreak?
Cooking to a proper temperature eliminates E. coli in most foods. But, raw milk doesn’t have that heating kill step.
The Department of Health says some are sick with a form of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, the category of E. coli that can turn deadly from a form of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). As is the case with most foodborne illnesses, the most likely to get the worst symptoms come from one of three groups: senior citizens, children under 5 and people with damaged immune systems.
“Severe complications have been reported for at least two cases,” the Department of Health said.
