FDA links raw cheese to outbreak; Makers “100% disagree,” refuse recall

LordEOD

Ars Scholae Palatinae
732
"Raw Farm has been associated with over a dozen other outbreaks and many recalls in the last 20 years, according to Bill Marler, a personal injury lawyer specializing in food poisoning outbreaks who has kept a record of the company’s outbreaks."

Not sure I understand how such a company can still be in operation for over 2 decades..

Edit: Spelling
 
Upvote
443 (446 / -3)

Wallachia

Ars Scholae Palatinae
1,187
Of the three cases that health officials have been able to fully interview about their potential exposures, all three said they had eaten Raw Farm-branded raw cheddar cheese.

This is one case where I'm actually willing to give the Raw Farms guys the benefit of the doubt, maybe.

If you're regularly consuming raw milk products, maybe that particular cheese wasn't the cause of your E.Coli infection -- because god knows what other wildly dangerous conservative-coded "health" things you are doing, at this point
 
Upvote
205 (234 / -29)

YesAndNo

Smack-Fu Master, in training
18
Of the three cases that health officials have been able to fully interview about their potential exposures, all three said they had eaten Raw Farm-branded raw cheddar cheese.
Raw Farm has been associated with over a dozen other outbreaks and many recalls in the last 20 years, according to Bill Marler, a personal injury lawyer specializing in food poisoning outbreaks who has kept a record of the company’s outbreaks.
Even if, by some chance, they're not the source of this  particular outbreak, they do sound like the logical place to start looking.

The company claims that it does its own testing on its products and has found no E. coli.
I would like to see their testing setup, please.
Further, the company said it hasn’t received any reports from customers or retailers of any illnesses.
So do they think the FDA just made up those interviewees, then? Besides, the last time I had food poisoning, I couldn't tell you for sure what caused it; it could have been anything I ate that day. You need to cross-reference with other people to get any real grip on the data, and ordinary people generally don't bother with all that.
 
Upvote
178 (178 / 0)

sword_9mm

Ars Legatus Legionis
25,723
Subscriptor
"Raw Farm has been associated with over a dozen other outbreaks and many recalls in the last 20 years, according to Bill Marler, a personal injury lawyer specializing in food poisoning outbreaks who has kept a record of the company’s outbreaks."

Not sure I understand how such a company can still be in operation for over 2 decades..

Edit: Spelling

Crazy idiots keep buying their shitty milk products I guess.
 
Upvote
74 (75 / -1)

Hypatia

Ars Centurion
202
Subscriptor
Obviously, the US was founded on the freedom to poison children. What is so confusing about this basic principle of political philosophy?
/s

“Freedom” isn’t something that falls from the sky and it isn’t some magically neutral concept. It has always been politically defined.
…but how could we be surprised that “No” would be the eventual response to just about any regulation in the current environment? “No, you can’t make me” is the neurological tick that comes from their hero constantly.
 
Upvote
68 (69 / -1)
Post content hidden for low score. Show…

UserIDAlreadyInUse

Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius
7,431
Subscriptor
"Hey, what's this?"
"I dunno. What's raw cheese?"
"Beats me. That's new. Let me check the package."
"And?"
"That's weird. There's no nutritional information. It just says, 'Do not expose to air.'"
"Think it's any good?"
"Of course! They wouldn't be allowed to sell it otherwise! Let's give it a try! What's the worst that can happen?"
 
Upvote
112 (116 / -4)

Jackattak

Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius
6,944
Subscriptor++
"Hey, what's this?"
"I dunno. What's raw cheese?"
"Beats me. That's new. Let me check the package."
"And?"
"That's weird. There's no nutritional information. It just says, 'Do not expose to air.'"
"Think it's any good?"
"Of course! They wouldn't be allowed to sell it otherwise! Let's give it a try! What's the worst that can happen?"
You just summed up the 2024 US Presidential Elections describing raw cheese purchasing.

Kudos!
 
Upvote
129 (130 / -1)
It has to be pointed out that cheese made from unpasteurized milk is quite common, and eaten by millions of people daily, on the other side of the pond.
There is the occasional listeria issue, and people are reminded to reduce the risk by not eating the rind, and avoiding those cheeses if pregnant.
But the raw milk cheese itself is not a major safety hazard if done right, or there would be a lot of dead Europeans.

Now, can we trust an American Raw Milk operation to actually do things the right way ?
 
Upvote
209 (223 / -14)

Robin-3

Ars Scholae Palatinae
1,127
Subscriptor
It's a self correcting problem. People eat the disease cheese, people get horribly sick, people quit buying disease cheese.
You'd think, but unfortunately not: (1) as noted in the article, often it's kids who end up sickened, not the adults who actually had the decisionmaking power. Also (2) humans are notoriously bad at changing their behavior when presented with evidence that they're wrong, and the raw milk fans have already demonstrated that they don't care much for evidence-based lifestyle choices to begin with, so....
 
Upvote
100 (101 / -1)

Jeff S

Ars Legatus Legionis
10,922
Subscriptor++
Question: If the FDA identifies your food is contaminated, and advises a recall but you refuse to recall it, and then someone gets sick and sues you, won't that take away all plausible deniability in court? Because you were warned specifically by the federal agency that tracks food contamination, that your product was dangerous and you kept selling it?

Bring on the lawsuits.
 
Upvote
167 (167 / 0)
Post content hidden for low score. Show…

nartreb

Ars Scholae Palatinae
1,213
Subscriptor
It has to be pointed out that cheese made from unpasteurized milk is quite common, and eaten by millions of people daily, on the other side of the pond.
There is the occasional listeria issue, and people are reminded to reduce the risk by not eating the rind, and avoiding those cheeses if pregnant.
But the raw milk cheese itself is not a major safety hazard if done right, or there would be a lot of dead Europeans.

Now, can we trust an American Raw Milk operation to actually do things the right way ?
I'm guessing that was a rhetorical question. If not, try looking up Salmonella rates in chicken products in the US and compare to, say, Europe.
 
Upvote
65 (65 / 0)

meisanerd

Ars Praetorian
1,463
Subscriptor
It's a self correcting problem. People eat the disease cheese, people get horribly sick, people quit buying disease cheese.
Provided they make the link between the cheese and the sickness, instead of just blaming it on something else. Also, sickening innocent individuals like children or friends that aren't aware and didn't specifically choose to eat a dangerous product.
 
Upvote
35 (36 / -1)

DarthSlack

Ars Legatus Legionis
23,059
Subscriptor++
Just curious, does linked or associated with outbreak have a specific definition? Was this farm previously proven to have pathogens from outside testing or assumed to have a connection due to market and risk?

It looks like the linked complaint is based on reporting without testing. Doesn't mean they're not the culprit, but I don't see a smoking gun.

The first step in any of these sorts of investigations is to start looking for something in common, and likely the FDA found that they all had eaten cheese made by Raw Farm. While that doesn't rule out something else, clearly seven people in three states eating the same cheese is a pretty strong indicator that's where your testing should start.

And certainly it's enough evidence to tell Raw Farms that there may be a problem with their product and they should voluntarily get it off the market before they hurt or kill anyone else.
 
Upvote
67 (68 / -1)

GreenHills

Smack-Fu Master, in training
8
Personally I buy and eat a lot of raw milk cheeses. Many traditional sorts are made from raw milk, and honestly they simply taste better. I can't tell if this is from the traditional ways of making them, or from the milk, but it is distinguishable. There is a known certain risk of listeria.

But ok, I follow this discussion from Europe, where many small cheese makers survive because people like me pay a premium for their traditional, low volume manufacturing. I doubt traditional local low volume production is the case here.
 
Upvote
87 (95 / -8)

poochyena

Ars Scholae Palatinae
4,908
Subscriptor++
It's a self correcting problem. People eat the disease cheese, people get horribly sick, people quit buying disease cheese.
Getting horribly sick didn't stop most anti-vaccine people during covid. If they didn't die, they think that made their genetically stronger, and people who did die were just genetically inferior.
Ah, the final level of Capitalism.

Government says you're killing people. Company says no I'm not and you can't stop me.
Regulations are a completely separate thing to capitalism
The government is not saying they are killing people. The government is saying there is a link to the company in an outbreak, but its not confirmed yet. This is why the recall is voluntary, because its not confirmed their products are the issue.
 
Upvote
25 (31 / -6)

theOGpetergregory

Ars Scholae Palatinae
1,217
Subscriptor++
"Hey, what's this?"
"I dunno. What's raw cheese?"
"Beats me. That's new. Let me check the package."
"And?"
"That's weird. There's no nutritional information. It just says, 'Do not expose to air.'"
"Think it's any good?"
"Of course! They wouldn't be allowed to sell it otherwise! Let's give it a try! What's the worst that can happen?"
--gets sick--
"Why would the government allow this!? There should be a law!"
 
Upvote
42 (42 / 0)

BulletCatcher

Seniorius Lurkius
36
Subscriptor++
It has to be pointed out that cheese made from unpasteurized milk is quite common, and eaten by millions of people daily, on the other side of the pond.
There is the occasional listeria issue, and people are reminded to reduce the risk by not eating the rind, and avoiding those cheeses if pregnant.
But the raw milk cheese itself is not a major safety hazard if done right, or there would be a lot of dead Europeans.

Now, can we trust an American Raw Milk operation to actually do things the right way ?
American food factory vs what's likely a small producer.

As someone else noted, look at salmonella rates in the US versus EU. US production tends to go for treating the chicken post butchering, whereas EU goes for preventing it on the farm level.
 
Upvote
72 (72 / 0)

klarg

Ars Tribunus Militum
1,982
Subscriptor
Raw cheese, raw milk, unwashed anything - it’s all good, it’s natural (just like septic shock, cholera, and botulinum poisoning).

Don’t let “big knowledge” boss you around, go with your feels.

And for a limited time, get a reduced price on my Artisanal Ice Cube Kit, it makes your drinks 100% colder! And it uses no seed oils!
 
Upvote
48 (49 / -1)