After being linked to a raw milk Campylobacter outbreak that sickened dozens of students and coaches who attended a football banquet in Durand, Wisconsin, the owners of a Pepin County dairy will have their Grade A permit suspended for 30 days, according to the The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection’s (DATCP).
Roland and Diana Reed, the owners of a Arkansaw, Wis. farm, served raw milk at a potluck dinner for the Durand High School football team in September and did not tell attendees that the milk was unpasteurized. Thirty three students and five coaches who drank the milk were sickened with Campylobacter infections. Ten of them were hospitalized. Campylobacter in manure samples taken form the farm matched tthe strain found in those who were sickened, according to a final report on the outbreak issued by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
“After reviewing the circumstances described in the final DHS epidemiological and laboratory report, we have determined that the farm violated current statutes and rules by distributing unpasteurized milk in an unauthorized manner, so we are taking appropriate action,” said Dr. Steve Ingham, administrator of the Division of Food Safety for DATCP.
“If the farm violates the conditions of the agreement within three years, the Grade A permit will be suspended again for 150 days for the current violation and their Grade A permit will be revoked for no less than six months for the additional violation. After revocation, the Reeds must reapply to be considered again for Grade A status,” DATCP said in a statement.
“Our goal is to prevent a reoccurrence by changing the practices that led to this outbreak,” Ingham says. “We take our responsibility to protect public health seriously and uniformly enforce the law.”
