The number of people who became sick with an intestinal infection after drinking raw milk from a Franklin County farm continues to rise.
As of today, the Pennsylvania Department of Health said 78 cases of campylobacter bacteria are connected to unpasteurized milk sold in mid-January by The Family Cow dairy in Chambersburg.
The department says it is the largest foodborne outbreak related to raw milk in the state.
Of the cases, 68 people were sickened in Pennsylvania, five in Maryland, two in New Jersey and three in West Virginia. At least nine people were hospitalized, state Department of Health spokeswoman Holli Senior said.
The Family Cow resumed selling its raw milk Feb. 6 after clearance from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. The dairy had been licensed, inspected and operating in compliance with state laws but halted its milk sales for 11 days after illnesses were reported in early January.
Raw milk is milk that hasn’t undergone pasteurization, the heating process normally applied to milk to kill germs. While the number of people who drink raw milk is small, it's gained a great deal of popularity in recent years.
The rising popularity of raw milk alarms health professionals who say raw milk is unsafe to drink, and raw milk continues to get a bad reputation from doctors.
A study released earlier this week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals the rate of outbreaks caused by unpasteurized milk and products made from it was 150 times greater than outbreaks linked to pasteurized milk.
The survey found 121 outbreaks linked to dairy products in which it was known whether the milk was pasteurized or unpasteurized. Of those, 60 percent were caused by raw milk and 39 percent by pasteurized milk.
Dr. Adam Langer, an epidemiologist and lead author of the study, called the Family Cow outbreak one of the largest reported to the CDC but certainly not the biggest in the nation. An outbreak linked to raw milk in 2001 in North Carolina caused more than 200 illnesses, he said.
Since 2006, Pennsylvania has had at least seven disease outbreaks linked to raw milk consumption, involving almost 200 persons, Senior said. The outbreaks have been caused most commonly by campylobacter bacteria, with the remainder caused by salmonella.
In 2008, a raw milk outbreak sickened 72 people in Lancaster County, and a Montgomery County outbreak the same year caused 68 people to become sick, Senior said.
However, it is by no means the largest food-related outbreak in Pennsylvania. In 2003, four people died and more than 650 people became sick with hepatitis A after eating green onions at a Chi-Chi’s Mexican Restaurant in Beaver County.
“It is possible for people to get sick from any food. There is no such thing as a food that has never made people sick,” said Judith McGeary, executive director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, a national group dedicated to independent farmers.
She and other proponents of raw milk say the CDC cherry picked its numbers and used old data to support its claims against drinking raw milk. For example, the Weston A. Price Foundation, a raw milk advocacy group, claims 3 percent of the U.S. population drinks raw milk, she said.
“The only conclusion is raw milk is pretty popular among a certain segment of the population,” she added.
Despite the warnings, those who drink raw milk say they do so because it tastes better and is healthier because it hasn’t lost enzymes and nutrients in pasteurization.
“The people who know what they are talking about and know what they are buying are not afraid of it. People on the fringe, who don’t know about raw milk, can be terrorized by it,” said Tom Maurer, owner of the Palmyra Real Food Emporium.
He does not carry The Family Cow brand but sells raw milk from two suppliers in Myerstown, Lebanon County. Maurer said sales of raw milk continue to climb in popularity. I think people are realizing it's not that bad from a safety standpoint, and they recognize the health benefits of it,” he said.
In a Feb. 16 letter, Family Cow owner Edwin Shank stressed that since he and his wife, Dawn, started selling raw milk in 2008, the safety of their customers was always of utmost importance.
“There is one all-important group of people whose satisfaction, approval and safety trumps all. And that is you, our customer friends. It is you who have chosen to make our organic farm your food source. It is you who have chosen our family as your farmers. So, in return, it is only fitting that our family is dedicated to you,” Shank wrote.
He also wrote that an on-site laboratory was built this month on the farm. The milk is now tested daily, allowing the farm to have test results before the milk is sold, he said.