Raw-milk dairy told to name customers

LONGVIEW, Wash. – A judge on Thursday ordered the owners of a small farm to turn over the names of people who received unpasteurized dairy products that health officials blame for an outbreak of E. coli-related illness.

Michael and Anita Puckett, operators of the Dee Creek Farm in Woodland, were given 24 hours to comply with the order from Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge James E. Warme.

Health officials said the Pucketts’ small dairy operation supplied the raw milk that has sickened two adults and nine children, two of them critically.

Investigators asked that anyone who consumed milk or dairy products from the farm contact local health departments.

“This is a very serious infection and disease, and these kids are having serious complications,” said Marnie Storey, a Clark County nursing director. “There have been deaths associated with this disease elsewhere. We’re really concerned for these children and hoping the best for them.”

The children who fell ill were between the ages of 1 and 13, the Clark County Health Department said in a statement. Eight of the cases were reported in southwestern Washington – seven in Clark County and one in neighboring Cowlitz County – with three more in Clatsop County, Ore.

Two children remained hospitalized in critical condition on Thursday, while three others had been treated and released, the Clark County statement said.

The E. coli bacteria-related illnesses prompted an investigation by state Agriculture Department officials, who said the farm was not properly licensed to sell raw milk.

“They’re not a licensed, legal dairy operation, so right now they are shut down,” said Claudia Coles, the state Agriculture Department’s food safety officer.

Officials also said the Pucketts had been ordered in August to stop selling raw milk without a license.

Dee Creek responded that the farm was not selling the product, but was distributing it under a cow-share program, in which consumers buy shares in an animal in exchange for part of the milk, Agriculture Department spokesman Michael Louisell said.

Coles, however, said such arrangements are still illegal if the producers do not obtain the proper licenses. Officials said the Pucketts had five cows, and had arrangements to distribute raw milk to about 45 families.

A phone message left by the Associated Press seeking comment from the farm was not immediately returned Thursday, and a subsequent call rang unanswered.

Chrys Ostrander, spokesman for the Washington Association of Shareholder Dairy Owners, said Dee Creek’s owners had their milk tested after learning of the outbreak and found no traces of E. coli.

They did notify everyone who received milk from the farm and told those people to dump it, Ostrander said.

“I consider them to be careful and conscientious farmers, for whom this whole thing is a shock,” Ostrander said. “It’s difficult for them, and of course it’s difficult for the people who are ill, too.”

The popularity of raw milk has grown in some quarters amid concern over genetically modified food and the use of hormones in livestock.

Most people can drink raw milk without problems, but lack of adequate sanitation can result in contamination with E. coli and other bacteria. Pasteurization, which kills the bacteria, also reduces some of the nutritional qualities, supporters of raw milk say.

“Obviously, cows defecate,” said Dr. Emilio DeBess, a public health veterinarian with Oregon Health Services. “Sometimes, the fecal material contaminates the area of the udder of the cow. Even though you try to clean that area pretty well before you actually start milking, the possibility of contamination is very high.”