FDA Traces Multistate E. Coli Outbreak to Sierra Nevada Cheese Co.'s Graziers Raw Milk Line

The Food and Drug Administration is investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli infections tied to raw milk cheese made in Northern California, after federal regulators confirmed 13 illnesses and eight hospitalizations, including three cases of a life-threatening kidney complication, across nine states. Sierra Nevada Cheese Company of Willows, California, announced on Sept. 28 that it is voluntarily pulling all of its Graziers-brand raw milk cheeses from stores and food-service accounts nationwide, a recall the FDA posted to its recall database the following morning.

The recalled products are the company's Graziers Raw Milk Medium Cheddar, Sharp Cheddar, Jalapeño Jack and Monterey Jack, sold in 8-ounce and 16-ounce retail packages as well as larger loaves and blocks distributed to wholesale and food-service customers. According to the FDA notice, the cheeses reached retailers, distributors and direct customers across the country, not a single region, meaning consumers cannot assume they are safe simply because they live far from the Glenn County creamery.

The numbers behind the outbreak

Health investigators have linked 13 confirmed illnesses to the outbreak strain, E. coli O26:H11, a Shiga toxin-producing strain capable of causing severe disease. Of those 13 people, eight have been hospitalized and three have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, a complication in which red blood cells are destroyed and the kidneys can fail. Cases have been identified in California, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Tennessee and Utah, according to the recall notice and local reporting that followed it, including coverage by Cox Media Group stations early Tuesday. The FDA said the illnesses were epidemiologically associated with consumption of Graziers Raw Milk Medium Cheddar specifically, though the company opted to recall its entire raw milk cheese line as a precaution while the investigation continues.

Investigators have not yet identified a specific production lot, manufacturing date or point of contamination, and the FDA notice states the agency will update its advisory as the inquiry proceeds. That is a notable gap: without a pinpointed lot code, consumers who purchased any of the four recalled varieties, regardless of when, are being told to treat the product as suspect.

• Graziers Raw Milk Monterey Jack, 8-ounce retail block
• Graziers Raw Milk Jalapeño Jack, 8-ounce retail block
• Graziers Raw Milk Medium Cheddar, 8-ounce and 16-ounce retail blocks
• Graziers Raw Milk Sharp Cheddar, 8-ounce retail block
• Graziers Raw Milk Monterey Jack, Jalapeño Jack, Medium Cheddar and Sharp Cheddar, 5-pound wholesale and food-service loaves
• Graziers Raw Milk Cheddar, 40-pound blocks sold to food-service and deli accounts

How the recall came together

Sierra Nevada Cheese Company did not discover the contamination itself. Per the FDA's account, the company "initiated the voluntary recall after being contacted by FDA regarding the ongoing FDA/CDC outbreak investigation," meaning the trigger was epidemiological detective work connecting sick patients in far-flung states back to a common product, rather than a positive test result at the plant. That pattern is familiar in outbreaks tied to unpasteurized dairy: because raw milk products are not heat-treated to kill pathogens, contamination can be sporadic and difficult to catch through routine testing, and outbreaks are often identified only after people fall ill.

Raw milk cheese occupies an unusual legal space in the United States. Federal rules allow cheese made from unpasteurized milk to be sold as long as it is aged at a minimum temperature for at least 60 days, a standard the FDA adopted in 1949 on the theory that acidification and drying during aging would kill most dangerous bacteria. The agency has said for more than a decade that it is reassessing whether the 60-day rule still holds up, as outbreaks tied to aged raw milk cheeses have continued to surface. Earlier this year, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention closed out a separate multistate E. coli investigation tied to raw cheddar cheese from a different California producer, Raw Farm LLC, after nine confirmed illnesses, two hospitalizations and one case of HUS, with illness onset dates stretching from September 2025 to February 2026. That investigation ended only after the FDA publicly recommended the company voluntarily pull its cheese from shelves, a recommendation the manufacturer initially declined before eventually issuing its own recall. The recurrence of serious E. coli illness tied to California raw milk cheese twice within a single year has sharpened a long-simmering disagreement between public health regulators, who argue aging alone cannot reliably neutralize Shiga toxin-producing strains, and raw dairy producers and their customers, who maintain that unpasteurized cheese made under sanitary conditions is safe and that the aging rule already provides an adequate margin of protection.

Sierra Nevada Cheese Company has also had a recent brush with a foodborne pathogen. In August 2025, the California Department of Food and Agriculture ordered a statewide recall of the company's Bella Capra raw milk goat cheddar after routine state sampling turned up Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium especially dangerous to pregnant women and infants. No illnesses were reported in that episode. This week's recall marks the second time in roughly 13 months that a Sierra Nevada Cheese Company raw milk product has been pulled from the market over a dangerous pathogen, though the company and products involved in the two incidents are different.

Who is affected, and what officials are telling them

The CDC and FDA both warn that E. coli O26 infections typically cause diarrhea, often bloody, along with stomach cramps within a few days of exposure, and that children under 5, adults over 65, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems face the highest risk of severe illness. The CDC's general guidance on unpasteurized dairy notes that outbreaks linked to raw milk and raw milk products occur far more often than those tied to pasteurized dairy, since pasteurization is specifically designed to kill the bacteria now under investigation.

Because the Graziers line was sold nationally rather than regionally, local health departments far from California have had to issue their own consumer alerts. Northern Nevada Public Health, in a notice published Tuesday, told residents to discard any recalled cheese or return it for a refund, to throw out unpackaged cheese if its origin cannot be confirmed, and to sanitize refrigerator shelves, cutting boards and containers that may have touched the product, guidance aimed at preventing cross-contamination in home kitchens rather than just stopping consumption.

Sierra Nevada Cheese Company is voluntarily recalling all Graziers Raw Milk Cheese products due to potential E. coli contamination. DO NOT CONSUME.

That warning now sits atop the company's own website, replacing its usual marketing for grass-fed dairy products. The company has directed consumers with questions to a dedicated recall phone line and email address rather than issuing an extended public statement, and it has not disputed the FDA's account of how the recall came about.

What happens next

The investigation remains open. Because no specific lot or production date has been tied to the contamination, the recall as written covers the company's entire current Graziers raw milk cheese inventory, a broader sweep than recalls where a single batch can be isolated. Consumers who bought any of the affected products, whether from a supermarket deli counter, a specialty cheese shop or a restaurant supplier, are being told to check packaging against the varieties named in the recall, discard or return what they find, and watch for symptoms if they have already eaten the cheese, particularly bloody diarrhea or signs of dehydration that would warrant medical attention.

The FDA has said it will update its notice as new information becomes available, including if a specific lot or contamination source is identified. Whether the outbreak grows beyond the nine states currently reporting cases, and whether the case count of 13 rises as more infections are matched to the outbreak strain through genetic sequencing, are among the open questions the agency and CDC are still working through. The episode is also likely to feed into the FDA's long-running, unresolved review of whether the decades-old 60-day aging standard for raw milk cheese remains an adequate safeguard.