Amish Wisconsin Raw Milk Trial due to Campylobacter jejuni contamination

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