{"id":240887,"date":"2026-03-28T15:01:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T15:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/240887\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T15:01:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T15:01:07","slug":"nine-people-sick-from-e-coli-linked-to-raw-cheese-from-california-farm-more-than-half-of-them-children-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/240887\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine people sick from E coli linked to raw cheese from California farm, more than half of them children | California"},"content":{"rendered":"

A California<\/a> raw milk dairy that was previously linked to a fatal outbreak of bird flu in cats has now been linked to an E coli outbreak involving cheddar cheese, affecting nine people in three states.<\/p>\n

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in an alert <\/a>that more than half of the people sickened so far are children under age five. Three people have been hospitalized after contracting a dangerous strain of E coli \u2013 O157:H7 \u2013 with one developing hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition that can lead to kidney failure.<\/p>\n

The FDA said that bacterial samples in the people who became ill between September last year and February 2026 showed genetically similarities. Seven cases were reported in California, while both Florida<\/a> and Texas each reported a case.<\/p>\n

The farm identified in the outbreak is Raw Farm in Fresno, California, the largest producer of raw milk in the US. Earlier this month, the FDA identified the farm <\/a>as the \u201clikely source\u201d of the E coli outbreak.<\/p>\n

In December 2024, Raw Farm was identified as the source of H5N1 bird flu in three Los Angeles-area cats that had consumed raw milk<\/a>. Two died, and fears were raised that that cats, like pigs, had cellular receptors which allow them to act as \u201cmixing vessels for reassortment of avian and mammalian influenza viruses\u201d.<\/p>\n

The farm was also linked to the largest salmonella outbreak<\/a> in more than a decade when, in 2024, at least 165 people were sickened.<\/p>\n

In the cheddar cheese case, Raw Farm\u2019s president, Aaron McAfee, told NBC News <\/a>that he won\u2019t voluntarily recall any of his products unless there\u2019s \u201cdirect proof\u201d linking to the illnesses.<\/p>\n

No Raw Farm products have been reported to test positive for E coli and the FDA has not issued a mandatory recall of Raw Farm products, but it has recommended the producer remove cheese products from store shelves voluntarily.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve sampled 81 samples that we purchased off retail stores in California, where we continue to sell and those were all negative. If I had any concern, I would have issued a voluntary recall,\u201d McAfee said.<\/p>\n

An FDA spokesperson told NBC that the agency\u2019s investigation is ongoing and it had issued \u201can outbreak advisory to inform consumers, restaurants and retailers of the current facts, and initiated an on-site inspection\u201d.<\/p>\n

Separately, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising people to \u201cconsider not eating this cheese while the investigation continues\u201d and to wash any items and surfaces \u2013 like box shredders, knives and countertops \u2013 that may have touched the cheese.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A California raw milk dairy that was previously linked to a fatal outbreak of bird flu in cats…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-240887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}