meta Sixty-five people have fallen ill ‘after drinking raw unpasteurised milk’ in one of Britain’s worst food poisoning outbreaks :: The Bullvine - The Dairy Information You Want To Know When You Need It

Sixty-five people have fallen ill ‘after drinking raw unpasteurised milk’ in one of Britain’s worst food poisoning outbreaks


The Low Sizergh Barn Farm in Cumbria sold ‘ready-to-drink’, untreated milk

SIXTY-FIVE people have fallen ill in one of Britain’s worst food poisoning cases — blamed on the trend of drinking “raw” unpasteurised milk.

Customers at Low Sizergh Barn Farm, which sells award-winning fresh-from-the-udder milk, were infected with campylobacter bacteria.

But now South Lakeland District Council (SLDC) has confirmed that last month alone 12 customers fell ill with campylobacter bacteria, with another 53 suspected cases recorded also in December – taking the total to 65 people laid low by the contaminated batch of raw milk.

A spokesman for SLDC said the farm would not be allowed to sell any more raw milk until tests showed no further traces of the bacteria.

Richard Park, who owns the farm in Kendal, Cumbria, said he was “shocked” and co-operating with a Food Standards Agency investigation.

None of the victims, aged from a baby of one to 86, needed hospital treatment.

Campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning and in adults can lead to abdominal pain, severe diarrhoea and vomiting.

The bacteria are usually found on raw or undercooked meat – particularly poultry – unpasteurised milk, and untreated water.
The incubation period – the time between eating contaminated food and the start of symptoms – for campylobacter poisoning is usually between two and five days, but can be up to 10 days.

The symptoms usually last less than a week.milk

But the food poisoning outbreak comes after experts repeatedly warned against the rising trend in drinking unpasteurised, and potentially bacteria-laden milk.

It follows a US study which claimed raw milk makes people 100 times more likely to get ill than the pasteurised version.

The FSA warned of the dangers of milk that has not been treated.
Source: TheSun


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