BALTIMORE (February 1, 2012) – The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) continues to advise consumers who purchased raw milk produced by The Family Cow dairy in Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, to discard any product purchased from this farm since January 1, 2012.

The DHMH Laboratories Administration has confirmed the presence of Campylobacter jejuni in two unopened raw milk samples purchased from this farm.

To date, there are 23 confirmed outbreak-related campylobacteriosis cases: 4 in Maryland and 19 in Pennsylvania, all of whom consumed raw milk from The Family Cow Farm.

Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized. Pasteurization is performed by briefly heating raw milk to kill disease-causing germs (e.g., Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157, Campylobacter) that can be found in raw milk. Maryland state law prohibits the sale of unpasteurized milk.

Further information on raw milk safety can be found on the CDC web site at: http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/rawmilk/raw-milk-questions-and-answers.html.