California Recalls, Quarantines Raw Milk Products

California officials are recalling and putting under quarantine raw organic milk from a Fresno County company after it was linked to E. coli that sent three California children to the hospital.

California State Veterinarian Dr. Annette Whiteford ordered all milk, butter, cream, colostrum and “Qephor” by Organic Pastures Dairy Company pulled from the shelves.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture announced Tuesday that laboratory samples of Organic Pastures raw milk have not detected the particular strain of E. coli. But interviews with the families of five children infected with the strain between August and October indicate the only common food exposure was unpasteurized milk.

Three of the children were hospitalized with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition that may lead to kidney failure. No deaths are associated with the recall.