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By Marni Rose McFall
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Cheese from the largest raw milk distributor, Raw Farms, has been linked to a multistate outbreak of E. coli, with the FDA issuing a voluntary recall of its product.
Raw Farms, however, maintains that its products have been confirmed negative for all harmful bacteria – including E. coli – and declined to voluntarily recall its products.
The congressional Food Safety Caucus has now asked the FDA to exercise its authority and force a recall of Raw Farms' raw cheddar milk cheese.
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Newsweek has contacted Raw Farms via an online contact form for comment.
Why It Matters
Raw dairy products were already political. While raw milk was once the realm of liberals and the left, in recent years it has been widely adopted by the U.S. right wing, with the likes of Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., espousing the benefits of raw milk. Kennedy says he only drinks milk, and other Republicans like former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene state that it “does a body good.”
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The sale of unpasteurized milk, which is when milk is sold straight from the cow without being heated to kill bacteria, was largely illegal in the U.S. prior to 2008. Since 2020, Republican states like Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, Alaska, Georgia and Wyoming have either passed laws or changed regulations that have legalized the sale of raw milk on farms or in stores.
Consumption of raw milk remains fringe: an FDA study, which used data from 2016 and 2019, found that 4.4 percent of Americans reported consuming raw milk. Consumption has likely grown since then, as raw milk's popularity has grown. The University of Delaware reported in 2024 that sales had risen by 21 percent.
But while raw milk has its supporters, it also has its detractors. Namely, the FDA and health experts. In a fact sheet shared in May of 2024, it said that “Unpasteurized milk can pose a serious health risk." The agency has also disputed that raw milk can help with asthma, allergies, immune systems or gut health. Because raw milk, by nature, does not go through the heating and pasteurization process, it could have harmful bacteria like Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli.
What To Know
The FDA announced in March that it was “investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections.”
There have been seven confirmed infections from three states, the FDA said in California, Florida and Texas. There had been two hospitalizations, and four of the seven cases impacted children aged 3 years old or younger.
That release said: “Epidemiologic evidence indicates that RAW FARM-brand raw cheddar cheese products made by RAW FARM, LLC are the likely source of this outbreak.”
It added that the FDA has “recommended that RAW FARM, LLC voluntarily remove their raw cheese products from the market, and the firm has declined.”
In a video shared to Instagram, Raw Farm shared an official statement on the situation.
“This is the official response from Raw Farm on the allegations by the FDA that we have E. coli in a multistate outbreak,” Aaron McAfee, Raw Farm's President, says in the video.
“Absolutely no,” he says.
“We disagree. Based on the evidence, based on the facts that we have reviewed since Friday, when we heard about this, no. We disagree. That is why for the first time in our company history, we declined a voluntary recall.”
Multiple lawmakers have now weighed in, as the congressional Food Safety Caucus has called for the FDA to force a recall.
Democratic Representatives Rosa DeLauro (Connecticut), Sanford D. Bishop Jr. (Georgia), Jan Schakowsky (Illinois), Chellie Pingree (Maine), André Carson (Indiana), Alma Adams (North Carolina), Mike Quigley (Illinois), Seth Moulton (Massachusetts), Grace Meng (New York) and Mark Takano (California).
The Food Safety Cacus members said in a joint statement: “The FDA recommended that Raw Farm voluntarily remove its raw cheese products from sale after they determined it was the likely source of an ongoing E. coli outbreak. Raw Farm refused. We have one message for Raw Farm and FDA: get it off the shelves – now.”
What People Are Saying
Raw Farm USA, in a post on Instagram: “WE 100% DISAGREE WITH THE FDA’S FALSE 'POSSIBLE LINK', AND EXTREME ALLEGATIONS.”
Members of the Food Safety Caucus, in a joint statement, said: “If Raw Farm refuses to take unsafe products off the market, FDA must use its mandatory recall authority and take them to court. A company should not be able to flatly refuse a recall recommendation. That puts consumers health at risk to protect the profits of a corporation.”
What Happens Next
In a recent video shared to Raw Farms' Instagram, McAfee said, “This has been a great week. This is the necessary steps that we have to take to show FDA, CDC, CDPH and CDFA that we’re not linked to the outbreak that they’re alleging, and I’m really happy with the way things are going.”
McAfee referenced the presence of FDA investigators in that video, as they seek to prove that they aren’t linked to the outbreak. Updates from the FDA on the situation are likely to come as the necessary evidence is collected.
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