Two Die From Listeria Infections, Tainted Milk Suspected
Massachusetts may have located the source of a a bacterial illness that killed two elderly men and made two other people sick, says the Boston Globe.
State health authorities tonight urged consumers not to drink milk produced by Whittier Farms in Shrewsbury after an investigation showed it is the likely source of a bacterial illness that killed two elderly men and made two other people sick.Listeriosis will make you feel very ill, but is really only life-threatening to people who have underlying health problems.The dairy company agreed to stop production and to alert its customers, who are mainly in the central part of the state. The four people who fell ill with listeriosis all live in Worcester County.
Brand names produced by the company include Whittier, Schultz, Balance Rock, Spring Brook, and Maple, according to state authorities.
State issues warning about possibly contaminated milk [Boston Globe]
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Comments:
Maybe they ought to think about pasteurization.
This one kinda hits home. I used to drive by this facility every single day driving home from high school.
Milk is expensive at that place too. Went there once, paid over $5 gal. for milk and they don't pasteurize the stuff.
On a positive note, it did taste smooth and creamy.
I searched Whittier Farms website and did a little further research and nowhere did any site say that they sell raw (unpasteurized) milk. The one thing unique about this dairy farm is that they own their own processing plant. While I couldn't confirm it, I would assume the processing includes pasteurization, especially given that this farm is large enough to market milk under multiple brand names. One source of confusion may be that they sell their milk in glass bottles, just like a lot of raw milk producers.
Dojistar, I don't think it's unpasteurized. Massachusetts has some seriously heavy regulations regarding dairy and meat processing and sales, and I'm pretty sure it's close to life without parole for selling raw milk here.
What this milk might be is non-homogenized, so the cream and milk will separate. That would likely make it taste smooth and creamy.
I'd be willing to pay a good chunk of money for decent fresh local milk.
I used to buy this milk all the time as the farm is down the street from me. But about a month ago I stopped for no reason in particular...
Pretty glad I did. It's a shame this happened, they were a really good local farm.
What a way to go, stomach pains are the worst, but to get a circulatory infection from them and die, daaayyyum that's metal.