On January 17, Frisia Dairy and Creamery of Tenino, Washington recalled all of its raw fluid milk products because testing showed that the milk was contaminated by a shiga-toxin producing strain of E. coli. The recalled milk products, including whole, skim, and cream, were distributed through on-farm sales and at eight retail outlets in Lewis, Thurston and Pierce counties.
The dairy, which began selling raw milk only 3 and 1/2 months ago, has decided that discretion is the better part of valor. Undoubtedly, Frisia Dairy doesn’t want to find itself as a defendant in a raw milk lawsuit, like its neighbor Cozy Vale Creamery, also from Tenino.
According to Food Safety News:
Anita De Boer, co-owner of the dairy with her husband Peter, told Food Safety News that the dairy, which has been in operation for 2 years, had started selling raw milk only 3 1/2 months ago.
Now with the recall coming so soon, De Boer said they have decided not to go on with raw milk.
“It’s heartbreaking to hear the stories of the mothers,” she said, referring to cases of E. coli infection in young children. “It’s not worth it.”
She said that from now on, the dairy will ship its milk to a processor to be pasteurized.
“We realize we took a risk,” she said, referring to the health warnings outlined on labels that Washington state requires to be put on raw milk containers. “We learned our lesson. It (raw milk) is a really good product, but there’s a risk with it.”
More sensible words have never been spoken, at least publicly, by a purveyor of raw milk products. Even more sensibility available at www.realrawmilkfacts.com.