IDFA and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) learned through a recent report by Food Safety News that a foodborne illness outbreak attributed to raw milk occurred in Virginia in 2016, but state officials did not take appropriate steps to alert the public and warn about the dangers of drinking raw milk. Expressing their disappointment, IDFA and NMPF sent a letter last week to officials in Virginia’s departments of agriculture and health, calling for speed and transparency in communicating news of future outbreaks to the public to protect consumers from the health risk of drinking raw milk.
In March 2016, raw milk from Golden Valley Guernseys in Virginia was implicated in an outbreak involving shiga toxin-producing E. coli, ultimately sickening 14 people, mostly children. Three were afflicted with Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), a serious condition that can lead to permanent kidney failure. Seven of the sickened were hospitalized.
According to Food Safety News, the Virginia health department decided that an announcement was not warranted because the general public did not have access to the milk, which was sold through an unregulated cow-sharing arrangement. IDFA and NMPF consider these arrangements a legal loophole that allows raw milk producers to skirt Virginia law, which requires all milk and milk products in the state to be pasteurized for sale to consumers, retailers or foodservice establishments.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: International Dairy Foods Association