Brunton Dairy Farm has been cleared by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture to resume processing milk and ice cream pending a final inspection.
The 175 year-old dairy, based in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, that has been run by family members for seven generations, was famous for its chocolate milk until this summer when state officials announced that 16 people who drank milk from the dairy contracted yersiniosis, an illness caused by Yersinia bacteria.
Symptoms of yersiniosis usually develop four to seven days after the bacteria is ingested and include fever, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, which is often bloody, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In older children and adults, right-sided abdominal pain and fever may be the predominant symptoms, and may be confused with appendicitis. In some cases, complications such as skin rash, joint pains, or spread of bacteria to the bloodstream can occur.
The dairy voluntarily postponed milk production for a time and resumed again on October 1 after final inspections showed no traces of the bacteria. But production was again suspended again on October 28 when the state agriculture department found Yersinia in glass-bottled fat-free milk during follow-up testing.
In early December, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was brought in to help with the investigation. The source of the contamination was not discovered, but the milk is safe to drink, Michael Rader, executive director of the Pennsylvania Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, told the Beaver County Times.
