The
public needs to be educated about the dangers of raw milk
16
people, including at least 9 children, were sickened by raw milk contaminated
with Campylobacter jejuni served at a
4th grade school event in Wisconsin. The same strain of Campylobacter was found by health officials in unpasteurized milk
(raw milk) produced at a local farm, according to officials from the Wisconsin
Department of Health Services and Western Racine County Health Department.
A
parent served raw milk from the farm at the school event. This highlights one
of the problems with raw milk: most people do not know that raw milk is a
dangerous product that can cause serious injury and death. A man, who drank raw
milk contaminated with Campylobacter,
developed a serious neurological case of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and is
now paralyzed. He can’t even breathe on his own.
The
public needs to be educated about the dangers of raw milk. Unfortunately some raw milk advocates comment
that raw milk is safe while health officials point to raw milk as the source of
the outbreak. The evidence proves the former are wrong.
In
the meantime stool samples submitted to the WRCHD by ill students and adults
were sent to the State Laboratory of Hygiene where they tested positive for the
pathogen Campylobacter jejuni. Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer
Protection (DATCP) food inspectors collected milk samples from the bulk tank at
the farm, all tested positive for Campylobacter
jejuni.
Further
testing by the State Hygiene lab showed the pathogenic strain isolated from the
stool samples and the milk samples matched. Additionally, interviews with event
attendees revealed that consuming the unpasteurized milk was statistically
associated with illness. Health officials said that this combination of
laboratory and epidemiologic evidence indicates that the illnesses were caused
by the unpasteurized milk consumed at the school event.
The
defendant in a long-awaited trial for raw milk violations in Wisconsin has won
a further delay of the proceedings. Vernon Hershberger, the raw milk producer
charged with four misdemeanors related to the sale of unpasteurized milk, was
set to face trial Jan. 7.
The
Sauk County court has to sort out religious-based objections that were raised
in briefs filed in his defense because of his religious beliefs, the raw milk
dairy farmer says he was raised Amish and still maintains many of those
beliefs. The raw milk producer faces charges of distributing milk from a dairy
farm with a milk producer’s license, operating a retail food establishment
without a license, operating a dairy plant without a license and selling raw
milk.
Source: FoodSafetyNews
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