Fresno raw dairy farm slams FDA after report ties outbreak to farm with ‘zero evidence’

FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) — Health officials are urging a Fresno raw dairy farm to pull its raw cheese from shelves after an E. coli outbreak sickened people in three states, but the farm’s founder says regulators have not shown proof the illnesses are linked to his products.

The Food and Drug Administration and the California Department of Public Health recommended Raw Farms issue a voluntary recall of its cheese after seven confirmed cases of E. coli were reported across three states.

Three of the seven people reported eating Raw Farms raw cheddar cheese, according to the agencies.

Raw Farms founder Mark McAfee, whose company sells raw milk, raw cheese, raw butter and other products, said he declined the voluntary recall request.

“We said, ‘Do you have any pathogen tests showing positive?,’ They said, ‘No we have none,’” McAfee said.

McAfee criticized the report as premature and said the agencies should have waited to release a report until after doing pathogen testing.

“It’s just a shoot first ask questions later,” McAfee said. “Why not wait a couple more days to get the evidence? The actual causation… do the root cause analysis instead of shooting first and asking questions later.”

Raw products remain a contentious issue in food regulation.

Critics say raw dairy can expose consumers to harmful bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella that would typically be removed during pasteurization, while supporters argue raw products contain beneficial components that can be reduced by heat treatment.

“Bioactives found in raw milk from cows very similar to those bioactives found in breast milk, which are saying fantastic for the health, nutrition, they got microbiomes, and immune system,” McAfee said.

McAfee said Raw Farms has its own on-site lab and tests its products for harmful bacteria.

“For every cheese batch we’ve made in the last seven months and beyond, in every milk batch that we made, (it’s) showing zero pathogens,” McAfee said. “We’ve averaged 60 tests per day in the last 210 days.That’s 14,000 tests in the last seven months and none of those tests reveal any positives that released to the public if they’re positive they’re immediately gotten rid of.”

McAfee said that the farms’ highest priority is the nourishment and safety of food for our consumers.

He said he would recall products if the FDA could prove a connection to the outbreak.

“We’ve got the facts behind us, we’re not going to back off, we’re standing up proud for our consumers,” McAfee said. “We put a barrier between any pathogenic bacteria that may come from mother nature and we do not allow it to get into the public food chain.”

McAfee said a registered nurse and technicians run the lab, and that FDA representatives toured it a few days ago.

Five of the reported illnesses were in California, one was in Texas and one was in Florida.

Two people were hospitalized and no deaths have been reported. Additionally, four of the seven cases are 3 years old or younger.

FOX26 News reached out to the FDA about the outbreak and is awaiting a response.

FDA RELEASE:The FDA and CDC, in collaboration with state and local partners, are investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections.As of March 14, 2026, a total of 7 confirmed infections have been reported from three states, including CA (5), FL (1), and TX (1). Known illness onset dates range from September 1, 2025 to February 13, 2026. Whole genome sequencing analysis of E. coli isolates from ill people shows that they are all closely related genetically to each other. This means that people in this outbreak are likely to share a common source of infection. Additionally, 4 of 7 cases are 3 years old or younger. Two patients have been hospitalized. No deaths or HUS cases have been reported.State and local public health officials have interviewed 3 ill people about food exposures of interest in this outbreak. All 3people (100%)reportedeatingRAW FARM-brandrawcheddar cheese. State and local officials are working to gather additional data for the 4 other illnesses, including 2 illnesses that occurred in 2025. Epidemiologic evidence indicates thatRAW FARM-brandrawcheddar cheese products made byRAW FARM,LLCare thelikely sourceof this outbreak.FDA has recommended that RAW FARM, LLC voluntarily remove their raw cheese products from the market, and the firm has declined.The investigation is ongoing to determine the source of contamination and whether additional products are linked to illnesses. To date, to FDA’s awareness, no RAW FARM-brand cheddar cheese products from this time period have tested positive for E. coli. As part of this investigation, state partners initiated collection of product samples for testing and analysis, but results are not yet available. FDA will update this advisory should additional information become available.