At least seven people in three states, including young children, have been sickened by E. coli food poisoning linked to cheddar cheese made from raw milk, federal health officials said Monday.
California-based Raw Farm made the cheese that is the "likely source" of the outbreak, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, though no Raw Farm products have tested positive for E. coli during the outbreak period, the FDA noted.
Illnesses were reported between last September and mid-February, the agency said.
Five cases were reported in California and one each in Florida and Texas.
More than half of the illnesses were in children aged 3 or younger. Two people were hospitalized.
The FDA recommended that Raw Farm voluntarily remove its raw cheese products from sale, but the company has declined.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged consumers to "consider not eating" the products.
Mark McAfee, owner of Raw Farm, said he refused to recall the products because investigators have not definitively linked them to any illnesses.
"They have found no pathogens in any of our products," McAfee said in an interview.
He disputed the FDA’s findings that the cases were genetically linked and said the announcement of the outbreak was premature.
The FDA said interviews with three people who got sick found that all three reported eating Raw Farm brand raw milk cheddar cheese.
An analysis of samples from sick patients showed that the E. coli isolates that caused their infections were closely related genetically, investigators found.
Officials are working to gather information from the additional four cases.
The investigation is continuing to determine the source of contamination and whether additional products are linked to illnesses.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.