Consumers in Tompkins County, New York and surrounding areas not to consume unpasteurized raw milk produced at Jerry Dell Farm located at 39 Fall Creek Rd (RT 366) in Freeville, due to possible contamination with campylobacter.

The state Health Department received 2 reports of Campylobacter enteritis, from people who have consumed raw unpasteurized milk purchased from Jerry Dell Farm. Both patients have recovered.

Anyone who purchased milk from Jerry Dell Farm and still has the product should discard it immediately. Individuals experiencing gastrointestinal illness symptoms after consuming milk purchased from Jerry Dell Farm should contact their health care provider.

The farm has voluntarily suspended milk sales. The farm was first notified of the reported illnesses on September 22.

Confirmatory tests completed today at the New York State Food Laboratory found that the raw unpasteurized milk produced at Jerry Dell Farm, and collected on September 22, contained Campylobacter. This producer will be prohibited from selling raw milk until subsequent sampling indicates that the product is free of pathogens.

This person sounds like a bad food safety manager.

New York City’s Village Voice ran a piece about the paperwork being required by health types in the form of HACCP plans (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point).

“… the plans require chefs to map out a convoluted strategy for avoiding foodborne pathogens in potentially dangerous cooking techniques…. Sous vide came under scrutiny and was even banned temporarily in 2006 while the health department decided how to regulate the newfangled method. … Now restaurants desiring to use the sous vide method must have an approved HACCP plan to do so.”

Elizabeth Meltz, director of food safety and sustainability for the Batali Bastianich group, which includes Babbo, Del Posto, and food emporium Eataly, was quoted as saying,

"There was one E. coli outburst from apple cider, and now there's a HACCP plan required to make it for mass consumption, too."

Maybe the E. coli outburst Meltz was referring to was in Oct. 1996, when 16-month-old Anna Gimmestad of Denver drank Smoothie juice manufactured by Odwalla Inc. of Half Moon Bay, Calif. She died several weeks later; 64 others became ill in several western U.S. states and British Columbia after drinking the same juices, which contained unpasteurized apple cider --and E. coli O157:H7. Investigators believe that some of the apples used to make the cider may have been insufficiently washed after falling to the ground and coming into contact with deer feces.

Or maybe the outburst was in Maryland last year when seven people got sick drinking unpasteurized cider; three were hospitalized.

Maybe the outburst was in Iowa, when eight were stricken with E. coli o157:H7 after drinking unpasteurized cider.

Maybe it was one of the 31 other outbreaks of illness we’ve document linked to unpasteurized juices – primarily apple cider. The complete table with body count is available at
http://bites.ksu.edu/fresh-juice-outbreaks.
 

In October, 1996, 16-month-old Anna Gimmestad of Denver drank Smoothie juice manufactured by Odwalla Inc. of Half Moon Bay, Calif. She died several weeks later; 64 others became ill in several western U.S. states and British Columbia after drinking the same juices, which contained unpasteurized apple cider --and E. coli O157:H7. Investigators believe that some of the apples used to make the cider may have been insufficiently washed after falling to the ground and coming into contact with deer feces.

In the fall of 1998, I accompanied one of my four daughters on a kindergarten trip to the farm. After petting the animals and touring the crops --I questioned the fresh manure on the strawberries --we were assured that all the food produced was natural. We then returned for unpasteurized apple cider. The host served the cider in a coffee urn, heated, so my concern about it being unpasteurized was abated. I asked: "Did you serve the cider heated because you heard about other outbreaks and were concerned about liability?" She responded, "No. The stuff starts to smell when it's a few weeks old and heating removes the smell."

Yesterday, Baugher's Orchard and Farm in Westminster, Maryland, announced to local fanfare – and some customer distress -- that it will change the way it produces apple cider in the future after E. coli infections were linked to the product this fall.

Dr. David Blythe, medical epidemiologist from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said environmental and product testing of the apple cider was conducted in November and December in an attempt to confirm a link between seven cases of a specific strain of E. coli infections that began appearing in mid-October that was believed to be associated with the consumption of Baugher's unpasteurized apple cider.

Three of the seven cases resulted in hospitalization. Five of the seven cases were children younger than 18. All afflicted people recovered and those hospitalized were discharged, Frances Phillips, Deputy Secretary for Public Health from the DHMH said.

Blythe said the E. coli strain was not found in any of the tested samples, but that they were not able to test from the batch of apple cider that is suspected of causing the sickness.

Though they cannot make any conclusions from the testing, Blythe said the information collected, like interviews from those affected by the E. coli strain, still points to the apple cider as what made people sick.

Dwight Baugher, farm manager, said they are not currently making any apple cider. The company typically makes cider from about mid-September through mid-March.

"There's no way of knowing if we had anything to do with it," he said.

Though they have not found out the source of the E. coli strain, they are working on changing the apple cider production process to include pasteurization.
 

The New York Times reports this morning that listeria can pose special challenges for artisan cheesemakers. Many make their cheese right on the farm, where the bad bacteria are right outside the cheese room door (or inside – dp). And small producers often lack the safety training and resources available at bigger companies.

For example, Sharon McCool got a shock last year as she prepared to begin selling the first batch of cheese she had made from milk produced at her family’s organic dairy, Rosecrest Farm, in Chehalis, Wash. State inspectors told her the Swiss cheese she had labored over for months was contaminated with listeria.

Tests showed that the bacteria was contained in a mixture of wine, water and salt, called a smear, that Ms. McCool had been brushing on her cheese each day as it aged. Without knowing it, she was dosing the cheese with listeria.

Ms. McCool threw out 900 pounds of cheese, changed some of her practices, got rid of the smear and started over.

Ms. McCool and her husband, Gary, have for years operated a dairy, where sanitation is paramount, so she thought she was well versed in food safety. But she now sees that she had overlooked some obvious pitfalls.

Before, Ms. McCool said, she had been so proud of her new business that she had often showed visitors around, possibly introducing listeria through their shoes or clothing.

Now, visitors are kept out. “Pretty much everything is really a whole lot stricter,” Ms. McCool said.

The number of small-scale, artisan cheesemakers has boomed in recent years but little or no formal training is required. Safety rules and enforcement also vary from state to state.

Soft cheeses — including brie, mozzarella and queso fresco — are more likely to become contaminated with listeria because they have a relatively high moisture content and low acidity, creating a more hospitable environment for the bacteria. In addition, listeria grows well at low temperatures, so even it can thrive even in a refrigerator.

The F.D.A. said it is inspecting both raw-milk and pasteurized cheese facilities for listeria, and recalls this year have been for both types of cheeses.

The agency also said it was reviewing the aging rules in light of evidence that the 60-day period might not be effective.