From the Seattle Weekly:

2011 began with a legislative effort to relax restrictions on raw milk sales, and is ending with a reminder of why so many scientists oppose such measures.

Although State Sen. Kevin Ranker’s bill exempting small-scale dairies from raw milk regulations is languishing in committee – “it fizzled out pretty quickly,” Democratic Caucus spokesperson Michael Althauser says – the state still has among the nation’s most liberal raw milk laws. Washington is one of 10 states in which raw milk can be legally sold at grocery stores.

Tenino’s Cozy Vale Creamery, now the subject of an E. coli-related recall, sold its products at seven co-ops and natural foods stores around the Puget Sound, including Marlene’s Market in Federal Way. The Washington State Department of Agriculture last week initiated the recall after finding E. coli in the dairy’s milking parlor and processing area. Three illnesses have been linked with the contamination.

The Cozy Vale outbreak was the fourth raw milk outbreak in Washington since 2005, and the eighth in the U.S. this year: In 2011, more than 100 people nationwide were seriously sickened by raw milk.

“Raw milk is one of those food products, like raw hamburger, that really is just inherently dangerous,” says Seattle food safety attorney Bill Marler, whose name recently appeared on New York Times columnist Mark Bittman’s list of reasons for food activists to be thankful. Marler has been contacted by two of the families affected by the Cozy Vale outbreak.

“These are not bellyaches,” Marler says. “This is acute kidney failure. These are very sick kids.”

According to Marler, the proximity of a cow’s udder to fecal matter makes it impossible to eliminate the risk of E. coli. Food safety experts hail pasteurization as the obvious solution: In the years before pasteurization standards were widely adopted, milk was the source of one-quarter of traceable food and waterborne illnesses. Milk now accounts for fewer than one percent of such illnesses.

But eaters who are wary of big ag and government interference in the food system have made a totem of raw milk, which often represents the end stage of an experimentation process that starts with filtered water and organic vegetables. Many raw milk devotees loudly credit the drink with elevating their health and restoring their happiness.

“There’s a level of passion I find to be almost religious in its fervor,” Marler says. “When I put up something on my blog about listeria, I won’t get any comments. But when I post something about raw milk, I’ll get 10, 15, 20 comments, most of them nasty.”

Whole Foods last year stopped selling raw milk products, citing a need to develop nationwide corporate standards for the category. But Marler says few small natural food grocers have publicly followed suit, perhaps because they fear a backlash from raw milk believers.

“(Hemolytic Uretic Syndrome) cases are millions of dollars,” Marler says. “The co-ops that sold this milk have enormous risks.”

The risks are heightened, Marler says, by the common practice of shelving raw milk alongside pasteurized milk. Although Cozy Vale’s customers aren’t claiming they were misled into purchasing raw milk, Marler says a buyer told him, “I couldn’t tell the difference.”

Washington law mandates a warning label on raw milk.

“Unfortunately, maybe we can read the label,” Marler says. “But kids don’t have a chance against what mom and dad put in the kitchen.”

Missouri health officials on Wednesday raised to 36 the total number of people sickened since October 7 in an E. coli outbreak in the St. Louis area. There have been no deaths linked to the outbreak, although several patients have reported severe illnesses, including kidney failure.

State health officials say they continue to search for the source of the food-borne bacteria, and all tests on food items have so far been negative. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is participating in the investigation but has not issued any recalls in response to the outbreak.

Cozy Raw Milk.jpgCozy Raw Milk.jpgCozy Vale Creamery’s raw milk products are being recalled because they may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 after being linked to three illnesses.

The Cozy Vale Creamery’s whole and skim milk and cream are distributed through seven retail outlets in Pierce, Thurston and King counties. The products being recalled all have sell-by dates of December 6 or earlier.

The recall was begun after Washington State Department of Agriculture environmental swabbing at the facility discovered that locations in the milking parlor and processing areas were contaminated with the E. coli O157:H7 bacteria.

Three illnesses have been reported in Cozy milk customers since August.

They products were sold retail at the farm store and at Marlene’s Market in Tacoma, two Olympia Food Co-Op locations in Olympia, Olympia Local Foods in Tumwater, Yelm Co-op in Yelm, Mt. Community Co-op in Eatonville and Marlene’s Market in Federal Way.

OrganicPastures.jpgNovember 2011

According to a California State Department of Health release, raw milk products produced by Organic Pastures of Fresno County are the subject of a statewide recall and quarantine order.

Under the recall, all Organic Pastures raw dairy products with the exception of cheese aged a minimum of 60 days are to be pulled immediately from retail shelves and consumers are strongly urged to dispose of any products remaining in their refrigerators. Until further notice, Organic Pastures may not produce raw milk products for the retail market. The order also affects Organic Pastures raw butter, raw cream, raw colostrum, and a raw product labeled “Qephor.”

The quarantine order came following a notification from the California Department of Public Health of a cluster of five children who were infected, from August through October, with the same strain of E. coli O157:H7. These children are residents of Contra Costa, Kings, Sacramento, and San Diego counties. Interviews with the families indicate that the only common reported food exposure is unpasteurized (raw) milk from Organic Pastures dairy. Three of the five children were hospitalized with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious condition that may lead to kidney failure. There have been no deaths. Surveys indicate that only about three percent of the public report drinking raw milk in any given week so finding 100% of these children drank raw milk and the absence of other common foods or animal exposures indicates the Organic Pastures raw milk is the likely source of their infection.

While laboratory samples of Organic Pastures raw milk have not detected E. coli O157:H7 contamination, epidemiologic data collected by the California Department of Public Health link the illnesses with Organic Pastures raw milk.

September 2006

Raw milk produced by Organic Pastures of Fresno County is the subject of a statewide recall and quarantine order.

Under the recall, all Organic Pastures whole and skim raw milk is to be pulled immediately from retail shelves and consumers are strongly urged to dispose of any product remaining in their refrigerators. Until further notice, Organic Pastures may not produce raw milk for the retail market. The order also affects Organic Pastures raw cream and raw colostrum.

The quarantine order came following a report that raw milk caused bacterial illness in a 10-year old girl in San Bernardino County. An investigation by the California Department of Health Services detected two additional bacterial illnesses in children consuming raw milk, one a 7-year old Riverside County boy, and the other an 8-year old San Diego County girl.

Doctors treating the children have identified the bacteria as E. coli O157:H7. While laboratory samples of Organic Pastures raw milk have not detected E. coli O157:H7 contamination, epidemiologic data collected by the Department of Health Services points to a link with Organic Pastures raw milk. Additional laboratory samples of Organic Pastures raw milk are pending.

It is not believed there is any connection with the recent E. coli O157:H7 contamination in fresh spinach. Typing of lab samples from one of the children shows a different strain than the one found in the spinach outbreak.

Of the three afflicted children, one has been hospitalized and released. The other two remain hospitalized.

Five years apart, but eerily similar.  For a bit(e) of history:

FYI – Organic Pastures Dairy E. coli O157:H7 Raw Milk Product Outbreak 2006

And – Organic Pastures – “Where There is Smoke, There is Fire.”

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) is leading a team of local, federal, and state public health experts in investigating the cause of the E. coli outbreak that has hit the St. Louis region.

The investigation involves laboratory analysis, environmental sampling and case interviews. This information is then combined to determine the possible cause(s) of the outbreak.

Numbers Update – October 7 to November 11

Number of individuals confirmed to have E. coli connected to the St. Louis investigation: 32

Number of food samples, connected to the St. Louis outbreak, tested to date: 55

Number of food samples confirmed to have E. coli: 0

DHSS added one new case today based on a specimen collected on November 3, 2011. Another specimen collected November 2, 2011 tested positive for the strain of E. coli observed in the outbreak, including the specific “fingerprint” analysis.

However, that individual is considered a “secondary case” – one caused by exposure to an individual with the illness, not by exposure to the source of the illness. Secondary cases are common in outbreaks, and of course require the same medical attention as primary cases. But secondary cases by their nature do not give investigators additional information about the source of the outbreak.

kelley-building.JPGAccording to North Carolina officials, an E. coli outbreak that has sickened around 30 people has been linked to a livestock building at the North Carolina State Fair.

Twenty-seven cases of E. coli stemming from the State Fair have been confirmed. The infections were likely transmitted in the Kelley Building, which housed sheep, goats and pigs and hosted livestock competitions during the fair.

IMG_5423.JPGThe illness is likely related to animal contact, but investigators haven’t identified any specific animal or breed in the outbreak.

A 2004 E. coli outbreak was linked to a petting zoo at the State Fair and led to initiatives such as placing sanitation stations throughout the fairgrounds.

According to the latest numbers from the Division of Public Health, 12 cases of E. coli occurred in Wake County, seven in Sampson County, two each in Orange and Wilson counties, and one each in Cleveland, Durham, Johnston and Lenoir counties. Five children and one adult remained in the hospital in early November.

romainelettuce.jpgThe St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that St. Louis Missouri Health officials say there are now 30 confirmed cases of E. coli in the St. Louis area. Most of the confirmed cases have been linked to Schnucks salad bars. However, no left over products have tested positive for E. coli.

KMOX Radio reports that 21 of the cases are from St. Louis County others are in Illinois and in Boone County Missouri.

St. Louis County Health Department spokesman Craig LeFebvre says the source remains a mystery despite several foods that have been tested.

Officials with the Food and Drug Administration are now in St. Louis, working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health officials. They are looking at upstream suppliers of lettuce as a possible source of the outbreak.

State health officials say there are now 27 E. coli cases in the St. Louis area outbreak.

The state Department of Health and Senior Services also said Saturday that one new case is from a Boone County resident who had recently been in St. Louis.

The department is trying to determine if two other cases in Boone County are connected to the St. Louis outbreak.

The North Carolina Division of Public Health is now investigating 30 cases related to an E. coli outbreak.  Health officials say 12 of the cases are confirmed E. coli and 18 are still being investigated.  Six people have been hospitalized, including five children and one adult.  A breakdown of the cases:

Wake County: 13 cases reported

Cleveland: 1 confirmed case

Durham: 3 reported case

Johnston: 1 reported case

Lenoir: 1 reported case

Sampson: 7 reported cases

Wilson: 2 reported cases

Orange: 2 reported cases

According to press reports, three people in Boone County have confirmed cases of E. coli infection, and public health officials are awaiting results of lab tests on two other patients to confirm whether they also have the bacteria.

“We are doing thorough food-borne investigations as we always do,” said Geni Alexander, spokeswoman for the Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services. She said there was no evidence that a particular location or food was linked to the confirmed and “suspect” cases.

“We found no commonality between those five people” who reported suspected cases of E. coli since Oct. 26, Alexander said. The fifth case was reported earlier today.

She said health department staffers, including epidemiologist Sarah Rainey, had interviewed all five people in an effort to determine the source of the disease transmission.

“At this point, there’s no way we can say, ‘It’s this,’” Alexander said. Because no common link has been established among the reported cases, the health department was not ready to call the illness “an outbreak.”

Alexander did not provide details on the age or sex of the patients.

“All five sought medical care,” Alexander said. “Two of the five cases required hospitalization.”

E. coli is a common kind of bacteria that lives in the intestines of animals and people. Most strains are harmless; however, one dangerous strain contaminates food or water with a powerful toxin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Alexander said the bacteria is typically food-borne and often is transmitted via contaminated fecal matter. The best defense against the bacteria is to cook meat thoroughly, wash fruits and vegetables and to have good hand washing hygiene.

“We want to encourage people to practice the same food safety that we always encourage,” she said. “But if they experience severe diarrhea, severe abdominal pain and vomiting, they should seek medical attention.”

Alexander said the two confirmed and three suspected cases of E. coli is an increase from what the health department normally sees, but even a single case gets staff mobilized to find the source.

“We investigate any food-borne illness,” she said.