N.J. residents warned not to drink milk from quarantined farm - NJ.com

New Jersey residents were warned Thursday not to drink raw milk from a Pennsylvania farm after a New York resident was likely sickened by it.

Pennsylvania agriculture officials on Saturday issued a quarantine of raw milk from Miller’s Biodiversity Farm in Quarryville, Pennsylvania, after the person was diagnosed with a RB51 infection, a strain of the Brucella abortus bacteria, New Jersey and New York officials announced.

Raw milk or “other dairy products” from the farm were identified as the likely source of the infection and anyone who drank or ate the products was asked to discard them and contact their healthcare provider to discuss preventive treatment, according to a release from the New York Department of Health.

“The New Jersey Department of Agriculture is working with surrounding states to determine the extent to which raw milk from the farm in question has been received by New Jersey residents and consumers at the New Jersey locations listed on the farm’s website,” New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher said in another release.

The farm lists several areas as “group pickup locations” for its products and a full list can be seen here.

The farm describes itself as a “private buying club, a membership organization, that sources food from local farms,” where a membership fee is required to purchase their products.

Fisher added that importing raw milk across state lines into New Jersey is a violation of federal law.

The person the bacterial infection was being treated and was “doing well," according to the New York Department of Agriculture.

Raw milk is not pasteurized and therefore it is not heated to a temperature that helps kill harmful bacteria that can cause diseases such as listeriosis, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, typhoid fever, tuberculosis and brucellosis, officials said.

Brucellosis can cause fever, sweats, chills, weight loss, headache, fatigue and muscle and joint pain and symptoms may appear up to six months after exposure. More severe cases include infections of the bones, central nervous system and reproductive organs and fetal loss in pregnant women.

The New York resident infected by drinking raw milk was the third confirmed in the U.S. in the last two years, with the other cases occurring in 2017 in New Jersey and Texas.

Udder Milk was issued a cease-and-desist order in November, 2017 after a New Jersey woman came down with RB51 infection after drinking raw milk from the company.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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