Pennsylvania Agriculture Department Suspends Raw Milk Sales Permits for Centre, Clinton County Dairy Farms

Consumers Urged to Discard Recent Purchases from Farms to Avoid Health Risks

HARRISBURG, Pa., April 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Agriculture today suspended permits that allow the Elmer Z. and Martha B. King farm in Aaronsburg, Centre County, and Cedar Hollow Farm in Mill Hall, Clinton County, to sell raw milk for human consumption after test samples revealed potentially harmful pathogen levels.

The department is urging consumers who recently purchased raw milk from those farms to discard it immediately as a precaution due to health risks. Samples taken from the King farm on April 12 contained Listeria monocytogenes, while samples taken the same day from Cedar Hollow Farm tested positive for Campylobacter.

No illnesses have been reported as a result of the potential contaminations. If people who consumed raw milk from these farms become ill, they should consult a physician.

Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized.

Symptoms of Listeriosis are fever, muscle aches, and sometimes gastrointestinal complications, such as nausea or diarrhea. If infection spreads to the nervous system, symptoms can include headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance or convulsions. The symptoms can appear anywhere between four days and three weeks after infection.

Campylobacter is a bacterial infection that affects the intestinal tract and can sometimes enter the bloodstream and other organs. It is one of the more common causes of gastroenteritis, which results in diarrhea and vomiting. In some instances the diarrhea can be bloody. Known complications of Campylobacter infection includes Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disorder of the nervous system. Onset of illness usually occurs two to five days after exposure, but can be longer.

The permits will be suspended until multiple laboratory samples from each farm test negative for harmful pathogens.  

For more information about food safety, visit www.agriculture.state.pa.us.

Media contact: Justin Fleming, 717-787-5085

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture

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