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Pumpkins on sale at Brookshire Farms in San Luis Obispo County on Nov. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n
Joan Lynch<\/p>\n
jlynch@thetribunenews.com<\/p>\n
After health officials linked a San Luis Obispo County pumpkin farm to an E. coli outbreak that resulted in five confirmed cases<\/a> and three children in intensive care, the farm\u2019s owners are still trying to get to the bottom of what went wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m destroyed,\u201d Brookshire Farms co-owner Shawn Callaway said on Friday \u2014 the first day the farm was open to the public after shutting down for 10 days during peak pumpkin season.<\/p>\n In the wake of the Shiga toxin-producing E. coli outbreak, Brookshire Farms voluntarily closed and found itself in the center of a media firestorm. Callaway\u2019s phone kept buzzing with interview requests from CNN, USA Today, People magazine and other news outlets across the country.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, one of their employees stood at the farm\u2019s entrance to turn away families trying to visit the pumpkin patch.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve gone through … about 11 days now of numbness. I can\u2019t explain it,\u201d Callaway told The Tribune of San Luis Obispo, a McClatchy Media publication. \u201cI mean, the worries, the fears, the concerns, the ups and downs. I mean, how do you explain it? I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n Safety has always been their top priority for both their customers and employees, he said.<\/p>\n After working as a firefighter for 36 years, he’s spent his life dedicated to protecting and saving people. That mission has not changed since he and his wife started Brookshire Farms 14 years ago off of Los Osos Valley Road.<\/p>\n \u201cOur hearts go out to the families, the kids, the adults,\u201d Callaway said, adding that he and his wife have both been extremely distressed in the aftermath of the outbreak.<\/p>\n Ahead of Halloween, the farm can easily see more than a thousand people a day stop by to pick up a pumpkin or wander through their massive corn maze.<\/p>\n Callaway said the farm\u2019s 17 restrooms are regularly cleaned and pumped twice a week. Visitors have access to 17 handwashing stations and eight sanitizing stations. Tables and chairs are cleaned multiple times a day.<\/p>\n And they don\u2019t have a petting zoo \u2014 a major culprit of other E. coli outbreaks, he added.<\/p>\n Callaway said the only known connection between the confirmed cases was that they attended Brookshire Farms. He knew of no other common denominators between the infected individuals.<\/p>\n The county said lab tests confirmed E. coli O157 as the specific strain that sickened local patients \u2014 but environmental testing conducted at Brookshire Farms had not detected that exact footprint of E. coli anywhere on its grounds.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough it\u2019s frustrating to not be able to pinpoint the exact source of the infection through environmental lab testing, this is not unexpected, and bacterial contamination is often temporary and difficult to detect through available sampling methods,\u201d county health officer Dr. Christy Mulkerin said in a Friday news release<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other types of E. coli bacteria were found at Brookshire Farms, but none that established the source of patient infections, according to the county. Callaway said the bacteria was discovered in an old cow pie on the hill above the farm.<\/p>\n Callaway said the five confirmed cases of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli occurred in two groups who visited the farm across two days.<\/p>\n One group went through the night maze around 7 p.m. on Oct. 17. The second group visited the next morning.<\/p>\n Callaway does not believe pumpkins were the source of the outbreak since the first group did not have any contact with them.<\/p>\n \u201c(The county) never tested our pumpkins,\u201d he told The Tribune. \u201cThey refused to test our pumpkins and said it was not in their investigational area because the pumpkins didn\u2019t have the ability to get tested correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n The county said testing was limited due to the large amount of potential sources, the absence of testable items and time delays between exposure and when sampling was conducting.<\/p>\n Callaway said in the immediate aftermath of the first cases being announced he was deeply disappointed the county released information<\/a> warning people to wash their pumpkins and avoid touching ones that had been carved. The guidance resulted in San Luis Obispo<\/a> and Santa Maria cancelling their annual pumpkin smash events.<\/p>\n A sign saying that Brookshire Farms was closed sits in storage at the farm on Nov. 6, 2026. Joan Lynch jlynch@thetribunenews.com <\/p>\n
The corner of Brookshire Farms’ corn maze runs up to Los Osos Valley Road on Nov. 6, 2026. Joan Lynch jlynch@thetribunenews.com Shiga toxin-producing E. coli not found at Brookshire Farms<\/p>\n
Pale pumpkins for sale at Brookshire Farms on Nov. 6, 2026. Joan Lynch jlynch@thetribunenews.com <\/p>\n