Summary-expanded body

Health officials said nine people, including children, have been sickened in an expanding E. coli outbreak tied to Raw Farm raw milk and cheddar cheese from a Fresno, California, producer. The CDC said two additional California cases were added, bringing the number of illnesses in the state to seven, after the outbreak was first reported March 15. Additional illnesses were reported in Texas and Florida, according to the CDC.

The CDC said more than half of the illnesses involved children younger than 5. It also said three people were hospitalized and that one person developed a dangerous type of kidney infection. Federal officials said no deaths had been reported in the outbreak.

Interest and sales of raw milk have risen in recent years, health officials said, a trend they linked to social media and to growing support from the Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement. Officials said raw milk has not been pasteurized, a process that kills germs such as E. coli, salmonella, listeria and campylobacter.

Illnesses were confirmed from September to mid-February, the FDA said. In interviews conducted by health officials with eight people, seven reported consuming Raw Farm brand products, according to the FDA.

Federal agencies said in 2025, two people reported drinking Raw Farm milk, and in 2026, five people said they ate or were served Raw Farm raw cheddar cheese. The FDA also said genetic sequencing of E. coli strains from sick people showed the strains are closely related, indicating that people in the outbreak “share a common source of infection.”

The FDA said its officials previously advised Raw Farm to recall its raw milk cheddar cheese from stores, but that the company refused. To date, the agency said no Raw Farm products had tested positive for E. coli, even as the outbreak investigation continued.

Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro and members of the Congressional Food Safety Caucus urged the FDA to use its mandatory recall authority to pull Raw Farm products from stores, federal officials said. FDA officials, the CDC said, have not said whether the agency will do so.

FDA and state health officials conducted an inspection at a Raw Farm site as the investigation proceeded. The CDC advised consumers to “consider not eating this cheese while the investigation continues.”