Deadly bacteria outbreak across multiple states from popular cheddar cheese product
Two Americans have been hospitalized and seven total have been sickened after eating a cheese made with raw milk.
The FDA and CDC said on Sunday that the patients were sickened with E.coli, a bacteria linked to kidney problems, hospitalization and death. Four of them are children under three years old.
All had consumed RAW FARM-branded raw cheddar cheese, sold in either block form or shredded at Sprout’s grocery stores.
Officials said five of the patients were in California, while one each is in Florida and Texas. They were sickened between September 2025 and February 2026.
Tests showed the patients were sickened with the E.coli strain O157:H7, which raises the risk of kidney problems. The same strain was also behind a major McDonald’s recall in 2024 that led to one death and 34 hospitalizations.
Investigators have urged RAW FARM to recall the affected cheese products, but said the company has declined their requests.
The business, the nation’s largest producer of raw milk that is run by Mark McAfee, an advisor to Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, said in a statement it ‘100 percent disagreed’ with health officials and that all its products were tested for bacteria, including E. coli, prior to sale.
Consumers are being warned to throw out the affected cheeses and to wash surfaces that the cheeses have touched using hot soapy water or a dishwasher.
The FDA and CDC are warning people not to consume block or shredded cheddar cheese made by RAW FARM and sold at Sprout’s grocery stores
Anyone who has recently eaten the cheeses is being urged to monitor for symptoms, including a fever at 102F (39C), diarrhea that persists for more than three days or vomiting.
No deaths have been reported so far, but officials are urging anyone who believes they were sickened by the cheese to come forward.
To date, officials have interviewed three of the seven patients, with each reporting that they consumed the RAW FARM-branded cheddar cheeses.
They are now working to interview the four other patients.
The FDA said it was also partnering with state agencies to test the company’s cheese for the presence of E. coli.
It is not clear how the cheese may have become contaminated, but in previous cases, this has been linked to feces from cows being mixed into milk.
Products made with raw milk have not been pasteurized, heated to 161F (71.5C) for several seconds. The process has been used since the 1900s to kill any dangerous pathogens or bacteria.
The CDC warns that drinking or eating cheeses made with raw milk raises the risk of consumers being exposed to germs, including E.coli, listeria and salmonella.
Shown above are the two products linked to the outbreak. These are the RAW FARM cheddar cheese block and the RAW FARM cheddar cheese simply shredded
Children under five years old, people over 65, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems are particularly at risk from the pathogens.
In a statement, released in an eight-minute video, a spokesman for RAW FARM said: ‘We disagree 100 percent with the allegations made by the FDA and CDC.
‘All our milk is tested prior to making cheese and our finished cheese is tested prior to release. We have no customer complaints at this time.’
In 2024, its raw milk products were also tied to a salmonella outbreak that sickened 165 people nationwide.
RFK Jr has been a vocal advocate of raw milk throughout his career.
According to reports, he said he drank raw milk while growing up. As an adult, he first started to drink raw milk around 2021.
His advocacy group, Make America Healthy Again, is also regularly linked to individuals touting raw milk for alleged health benefits.
