According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the number of confirmed cases of Campylobacter infection has increased to a total of 20 confirmed cases – 16 cases have been confirmed in Pennsylvania and and four cases in Maryland.

Testing of the product is still underway at the Department of Agriculture.

Samantha Krepps, Press Secretary for the Department Of Agriculture told Fox 43, "Once the family found out there was a problem - they voluntarily stopped production."

Six people were infected with campylobacter linked to raw milk from the Family Cow dairy store in Chambersburg, Pa., including three in Maryland, the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said Friday.

The implicated milk comes in plastic gallon, half gallon and pint containers and is sold directly to consumers on the farm and at drop off points and retail stores in Pennsylvania. It's illegal to sell unpasteurized milk in Maryland, though some consumers have reported getting it anyway at pre-determined drop off points.

In yet another entry into the we’ve-been-doing-it-this-way-all-our-lives-and-no-one-has-gotten-sick sweepstakes, Edwin Shank, a fourth generation owner of the Family Cow farm told the Baltimore Sun he's never heard of a customer becoming sick from his milk, and no one on the farm has been sickened; through five generations his family has been drinking raw milk from their cows "for 100 years."

“We're disappointed that this is being made to look definite when, one, the testing hasn't been completed, and two, the test they did do came from an open jug of milk in one family's refrigerator.”

Shank said that he has a good relationship with the health department and wants customers to know that he disinfects his pipes after every milking and sends samples of milk for testing six times as often as is legally required. He's been selling organic milk for six years and added raw milk three years ago because of strong demand.

A table of raw milk related outbreaks is available at http://bites.ksu.edu/rawmilk.

As officials in Brussels meet Jan. 26, 2012, to discuss the introduction of new control measures to prevent a repeat of last year’s E. coli O104 outbreak in Germany and France, food safety experts have questioned the effectiveness of the measures proposed.

At a meeting last week of the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF), which advises the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA), Dr Norman Simmons, a former ACMSF member said after the meeting: “There is no doubt about it, sprouted seeds are a risk … nothing can be done to ensure the seeds are safe. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next outbreak is even bigger.”

Among the control measures up for discussion are:

• sourcing seeds only from approved establishments;
• ensure only potable (drinking quality) water is used for irrigation and cleaning; • one-up-one down traceability of seeds;
• the use of microbiological testing for common bacteria before products can be released to market; and,
• rules governing the frequency of sampling.

ACMSF member Roy Betts, head of microbiology at Campden BRI , expressed concern about the use of microbiological analysis as a control measure. “I get nervous when we go to microbiological criteria in any detail: it’s not a control measure,” he said, since it is not good at picking up low levels of contamination.

What’s missing in all this is the lack of clear warnings to consumers, and any kind of verification. Guidelines and rules are nice but what if no one pays attention?

In Nov. 2011, raw milk produced by Cozy Vale Creamery in Tenino, Washington, sickened at least three children and environmental swabs found E. coli O157 at the dairy.

Today, the owner and armchair epidemiologist says the publicity and lawsuit for making people barf is ruining his business and it’s "hanging on by it's fingernails."

Duh.

In a statement posted on the Cozy Valley (or Vale, they seem to be used interchangeably) Dairy website, the owner says the lawsuit, bad press and community gossip have "nearly ruined" the business.

"Cows still giving lots of good milk...do I use it as fertilizer and hope that business will pick up, or should I send the girls to the slaughter house," the statement reads.

“I'd like to let you know that recent publicity and gossip foisted upon Cozy Vale has nearly ruined us. Cozy Vale is hanging on by it's fingernails. If you'd like to see us continue our small farming enterprise, please let us know. Most of you know how important local products are to our local economy. I mean it's tough enough already being a Raw Milk Dairy Producer and add to it a lawsuit, bad press, and community gossip. My God!

“I've learned that no good comes from talking to the press. I've learned that no good comes from not talking to the press. I've learned that if someone sues you, you become guilty instantly...and you know what? They know that. I've learned that facts can be presented in a way that can be damaging or helpful and the choice is always for damaging, its just more delicious that way! I've learned that gossip in a small community always divides it and destroys....um...I really thought better of my small community.

“There never was any ecoli found in our milk product. They did not find any ecoli in any of the milk samples taken. And the WSDA sampled over 36 seperate containers of milk (that I counted anyway). They tested the milk that the sick person drank from, no ecoli found. When my facility was swabbed down, they did not find ecoli anywhere that the milk would be. They tried really hard to find it too...even went so far as to stick a swab up the ass of my cows! (Well not really, but thats what it felt like). They did stick the swabs in old poop, steaming hot fresh poop, cows tails and udders. I was horrified!

In 3 sample swabs, one in the milking room floor, the sponge mop head, and processing room floor ecoli was found. It looks as if the mop had spread it around. I am told that the strain of ecoli found on my dairy room floor was a common type...I do not understand all of that, and am still looking into that.

Luckily, floor cleaning was an easy fix...it was fixed the very next day with a simple bleach solution.”

Would you buy raw milk or any food from this local producer?