New CA Public Health Report Further Links Illnesses to OPDC; McAfee Argues Fermenting May Have Exacerbated Tainting
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 04:50PM The California Department of Public Health has genetically matched E.coli 0157:H7 that sickened five children, ages one to five years old, with water and manure samples taken from a calf holding area at Organic Pastures Dairy Co. 
Milk from Organic Pastures Dairy Co. delivered to a retail store. The agency speculates that "contamination found in the calving area originated from maternal cows and subsequently passed to calves, either directly through feeding, indirectly through fecal-oral transmission, or by translocation through movement of personnel and equipment used on the farm."
The CDPH revealed details of its analysis in a report letter to Mark McAfee, owner of OPDC (which he discussed in comments following my previous post). Among the details of the report letter:
* Out of "a significant number of samples" of manure, water, soil, and swabs of various contact surfaces, ten "from the calf area were positive for E.coli O157:H7 (1 swab, 3 soil, 1 water, and 5 fecal)..."
* Two of the samples--one manure and one water-- "had a PFGE (pulse-field gel electrophoresis) pattern indistinguishable from the outbreak strain."
* The CDPH doesn't speculate about how the E.coli O157:H7 got into the milk from the calf area, except to say, "the fact that E.coli O157:H7 identifcal to the outbreak strain was recovered from OPDC environment supports the probability that the OPDC raw milk the case patients consumed was similarly contaminated leading to their illnesses."
* The CDPH also "isolated shiga-toxin producing pathogens" from packaged OPDC colostrum collected at the dairy. "The pathogen is very rare and we were unable to serotype it at our laboratory. The isolate has been sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further evaluation." According to the CDC, E.coli O157 H:7 is the most common shiga toxin producing E.coli (STEC). Other such E.coli "are not nearly as well understood, partly because outbreaks due to them are rarely identified. As a whole, the non-O157 serogroup is less likely to cause severe illness than E. coli O157; however, some non-O157 STEC serogroups can cause the most severe manifestations of STEC illness."
* The CDPH also said it found "sanitary deficiencies" in the OPDC milk bottling room, milk storage rooms, labeling room, kefir room, and common areas. These included chipping paint, mold-mildew, and rodent droppings.
In a letter of response, McAfee said OPDC has taken steps to isolate the calf area from the milk production and creamery operations. He added, "We now have a plan in place with employee training, segregation of personnel and dedication of equipment to reduce the risk or opportunity of the possible cross communication of bacteria from our calves to the rest of the operations."
He also said the sanitation problems have been addressed via a reconstructed milk bottling room and upgrades to the milk storage rooms.
Controversy seems to be lurking in the supposed manner in which two of the children became ill from E.coli O157:H7 in OPDC milk. In a comment following my previous post, McAfee stated, "We do know that at least two of the most sickened children did not drink raw milk,....but drank OPDC after it had been 'fermented and cultured with store bought Kefir cultures ' " There is nothing in the CDPH report letter that details the circumstances of how the milk was consumed by the sickened children.
But in an email today to Stephen Beam, head of the California Department of Food and Agriculture's dairy division, McAfee requested that publicity coming out of that agency explain his understanding about how the milk was used by a customer. "In all fairness, it is crucial that your department and CDPH both include in your press releases, that two of the hospitalized and most sickened children, did not drink raw milk at all. They instead drank a homemade brew of cultured raw milk with added cultures in their own containers and the end product contained millions of bacteria per ml. They also ate cultured vegetables that were soaked in raw whey collected from this cultured Kefir.
"That is an entirely different story….than two sickened kids drinking fresh raw milk...I would be very disappointed in the accuracy of the report if it did not include that the two most sickened kids drank a home cultured kefir and not our fresh raw milk."
In the aftermath of the outbreaks over two months in late summer and early fall, OPDC was shut down for four weeks, and then, after it re-opened, prohibited from selling colostrum. It's not clear if the colostrum prohibition is related to the finding of the rare shiga-producing pathogen in the colostrum.
I don't think we've heard the end of this story quite yet. On the matter of fermenting the milk to make kefir or yogurt, lots of consumers do that. Is McAfee suggesting people shouldn't do that, or that it should be done "at your own risk"? Just when you think you've heard the last of the issues surrounding raw milk safety, a new one rears its head.
Reader Comments (82)
David, I don't think Mark is suggesting that cultured milk products are inherantly bad. I have known that the harmful bacteria often survive in acidic environments (that is why stomach acids don't destroy them). That is why I choose to pasturize my cultured milks and soft cheeses.
http://www.huffingtonpost (dot) com/2012/01/19/manganese-food-poisoning_n_1216775.html?ref=food
"The animals were injected daily, starting five days before they were exposed to the toxin. While untreated mice died within four days, the injected mice remained healthy. The manganese made the toxin vulnerable to being destroyed by cells."
This is where nutrition comes in and I am not referring to calorie counting or fat counting or even sugar counting,etc.... The vitamin content of foods has depleted over the last 50 or so years. There are numerous studies on the net. It is a well known fact that if you are depleted in a vitamins you are susceptible to disease/illness. For example; pellagra-niacin deficiency (B3). You also require the other B vitamins to absorb the B3 correctly. Same as with Vit D3 you need magnesium to absorb it correctly.
I wish someone would look at the health of those who get sick from raw milk and the possible reasons for illness. Since not everyone gets sick, there is more to that story. It is simply better immunity? Most folks who drink raw milk these days didn't grow up on a dairy farm. They are not all getting sick. There are many children drinking raw milk. Most don't get sick. Why the few that fall? Is it nutritional deficiencies? Is it an unhealthy gut due to exposure to inflammatory foods? There is so much more to understand. It is sad that all they do is throw the book at the dairy and do no further investigating. Again, a positive test tells you nothing more than that they found a pathogen.
Jennifer, I would suspect that it is all of the above and more. Some things more so than others.
I think the nutritional value of the foods/phoods available to the masses will continue to decline.
A system that is compromised to any degree will have a weak area somewhere that allows pathogens to take hold, or natural cells to mutate, etc.
"the fact that E.coli O157:H7 identifcal to the outbreak strain was recovered from OPDC environment supports the probability that the OPDC raw milk the case patients consumed was similarly contaminated leading to their illnesses."
bear in mind that that surmise is made by an institution which has relentlessly demonstrated its antipathy to REAL MILK being available, at all.
the science of "probability" is as understood by mathemeticians, rather than guys who have some of Jr. college degree in "communications" = which is who put out this propaganda. So far, you have a news story. That's all.
Conjecture all you like ... Onus is on anyone who claims a given batch of bacteria travelled from a pen, carefully removed from the milk room at OPCD, into the bodies of those ANONYMOUS subjects of the story, to prove it.
I'm not going to take the word of a govt. stooge ... rather, let's see some tests from genuinely independent labs where split sampling was done, and those samples kept properly cold. The Campaign for REAL MILK has legs in the media, because it engages a profound sense of unease in people who know the govt. is lying to them on so many fronts.
I spoke at length with the mom with the two most sickened children. They were both from the same family. She and I are working closely on a very constructive path for improved consumer education. She and I both felt better after our very open and exposed discussion. I learned a boat load from her. She had previously been a close WAP follower and believes in the value of whole food nutrition. I am dedicated to protecting her family from further injury or criticism....she will remain nameless. I am dedicated to her protection and want to help her family become whole again. I want more than anything....to know how in the hell bacteria from our calf area became connected with five kids....how??? With all bacteria samples being negative from every place and very product...how??
There are massive questions remaining. How do 60,000 people not get sick for three weeks in a row and the then one gets sick and the three more weeks pass with no illness. Then a family with 2 kids sick ( the most ill ) had consumed fermented raw milk with an unknown culture in an unknown kitchen brew. Then the family also consumed raw whey fermented vegetables....was there salt in the whey mix???
The balance of the kids did not become hospitalized from what we have been told.
The water sample came from a calf feeder water trough.
I am sure that more information will come out as I am able to interview each of the other families.
Sadly....it appears that CDFA and CDPH investigators have submitted an incomplete and partial biased report. Don't you think that the fact that a mom fermented raw milk with added cultures and her own container for several days is important and relevant? Raw milk from OPDC is a very low bacteria count product. Home fermented raw Kefir is entirely different with 20 million bacteria per ml of unknown type. This sure is important to me and sure makes for a different story. Not telling this part of the investigation is a sham and is withholding of evidence.
Lastly.....none of this weakens me or OPDC, all of this makes us better and safer. We learn from challenges. We learn from compliments and we learn from criticisms. OPDC has emerged from this experience better and safer than ever.
What I want to know most is this....what happened....cause I want to prevent this from ever happening again.
The reason that colostrum is missing from CA stores is because Bill Marler Esq wrote a letter to Karen Ross our CA sec of state begging her to stop colostrum.....it is such a huge risk. 7 years and no reported illness. Super dangerous product.
Last time I was at Whole Foods....spinach, eggs, pasteurized milk and cantaloupes are still on the shelf. All of these foods have killed many people. Zero deaths from raw milk and a tremendous number of illnesses prevented and deaths averted by consumption of raw milk.
Was it the trough itself that contaminated the water or was the contamination from the actual water supply?
I can't imagine anyone criticizing the parents of the sickened kids.
The bottom-feeders of the world appear to be out for money only.....
See Dr. Mercola’s interview of Professor Don Huber for more information about glyphosate.
Great question. The Water sample was water taken from the calf water feeder. It is a steel barrel type system that is about four feet long, and 16 inches wide and 10 inches deep with a float system that drops potable drinking water from a tested domestic well into it. The well water tested negative for pathogens. Wether it was from the edge or the water it's self....I do not know.
The more we look at this... the more it appears that we know very little. Even the state is guessing. Conspiracies are sounding better and better.
Calf bacteria being beamed sporadically around CA mysteriously. How do we connect these dots???
I think the aliens must have beamed calf manure all over the state because it sure wasn't your delivery truck!
No doubt that the chemicals we are subjected to have impaired our immune system along with the environment, et al.
Spelt appears to have the highest manganese content. Not to confuse it with Magnesium.
http://lpi.oregonstate (dot) edu/infocenter/minerals/manganese/
eating a variety of foods would work if we knew how much nutritional value the food actually has, or even a close approximation. I also think that if you get your nutrition from your foods, your chances of overdosing on any vitamins (from food) is extremely rare if not impossible. Vitamin A in pill form can be toxic.
You are right about Mn deficiency being caused by Roundup (glyphosate). It is being used by many governments as an airstrike deterrent to crops such as coca, and it has in itself caused human poisoning recently in Colombia.
High levels of Mn potentiate the abnormal configuration of proteins characteristic in prion diseases in animals. In Sylvia's link however, low levels of Mn seem to correspond with a higher susceptibility to food-borne toxins.
That is why Violet, Dave M., and miguel give such credence to animal husbandry and soil health issues. Balance is the thing.
Help me understand why making kefir out of the milk makes a damn bit of difference here? You don’t get to talk out of both sides of your mouth on this issue. Kefir and yogurt both have the GOOD BACTERIA which is theorized should kill any pathogenic bacteria. Obvious this theory has a flaw.
If the milk was contaminated with E.coli 0157:H7 and it was left at room temperature to ferment, the E.coli 0157:H7 bacteria multiplied instead of being killed off the lactic acid bacteria. There is no big mystery here. Don’t make this into something it is not.
Bottom line, your milk is responsible for these illnesses. Just man up to it.
And for all the speculation about why none of the milk samples from the family tested positive for pathogens—your own BSK study gives the answer. Over time, the pathogens die. It took a while before any of this milk was tested. Time killed the E.coli.
If anyone is interested in the exact procedure used in rapid pulse field gel electrophoresis, the procedure can be found here:
www (dot) ncbi.nlm (dot) nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC230100/pdf/352977 (dot) pdf
They grow up the isolated e. coli, digest it with enzymes, and run it through a charged gel from one end to the other. The gel acts as a size filter and separates the DNA by size. Those with the same banding patterns are considered the same strain. This is a different procedure than what I explained previously. There is no direct sequencing. Given the genetic variability of bacteria, how probable is a false positive? In Dr. Noella's work (aka the Cheese Nun), she found incredible genetic diversity in in the fungus she was studying (G. candidum) and that diversity was not clustered by location. Here is here paper:
http: //web (dot) uconn (dot) edu/mcbstaff/benson/BensonHome/AEM01Marcellino (dot) pdf
Things to think about...
Your negative energy is astounding. Calf bacteria does not mean dirty raw milk...it means calf manure somehow got connected to kids. Hundreds of tests do not lie. CDPH test results point to the calves. I agree...our tests point to the calves.
Your passionately negative commentary points to your personal vendetta against raw milk and your affiliations with Bill Marler and the FDA.
A constructive position would seek to figure out what happened so we can prevent it from happening again at OPDC or anywhere. OPDC has gone far beyond state law with at least 72 tests per month, a comprehensive food safety plan, intensive employee training....all new equipment, udder management and cleaning protocols etc....
Raw milk is here to stay. The question is why are you even here at this blog. This blog is all about constructive dialogue to help raw milk become the best and safest it can be. Raw milk brings incredible benefits to those that drink it. Raw milk is only going to get bigger and better. Yes....there are risks and we do not fully understand them yet. These risks are smaller and lower that most all other foods.
I invite you to come to OPDC and see it for yourself. If you are interested in just throwing rocks, then that is a completely different agenda. Please be civil and constructive. A sterilized food system will bring more death than than you can imagine.
Living foods bring life and save lives. Think about the 4000 kids that died from asthma last year....before you throw another rock at raw milk....a food that heals asthma.
Do you get that....4000 funerals....drop that rock from your hand and take a step back.