The Raw-Milk Cheese E. coli Outbreak: 13 Sick, and the 60-Day Aging Rule That Was Never a Kill Step
CDC and the FDA have tied an E. coli O26 outbreak to Graziers raw-milk cheeses: 13 people in nine states, over half of them 5 or younger. Every Graziers raw-milk cheese is recalled, with no lot codes to check. The cheddars in the line can skip pasteurization if they are cured for 60 days, and in the FDA’s own lab test that cure cut E. coli by less than 90 percent.
As of the September 25, 2026 update (still the latest on September 29), CDC and the FDA count 13 people sick with E. coli O26:H11 in nine states, 8 hospitalized, 3 with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and no deaths, linked to Sierra Nevada Cheese Company's Graziers grass-fed raw-milk cheeses. Every Graziers raw-milk cheese is recalled in every size, with no lot codes to check; the FDA says to check fridges and freezers and throw the cheese away, or return it for a refund. Federal rules let raw-milk cheddar be sold if it is cured at least 60 days at 35°F or above. In an FDA lab study, though, E. coli O157:H7 in raw-milk cheddar fell by less than 1 log (under 90 percent) in 60 days, and a University of Vermont study could still detect it after more than 270 days.
On Friday, September 25, the CDC and FDA announced an outbreak of E. coli O26:H11 linked to Graziers grass-fed raw-milk cheeses from Sierra Nevada Cheese Company of Willows, California. As of that update, which was still the latest when we checked on September 29, 13 people in nine states are sick, eight have been hospitalized, three have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and no deaths have been reported. Over half of the people who got sick are children 5 or younger. Every Graziers raw-milk cheese on the market has been recalled.
Two of the recalled cheeses are cheddars, and federal rules let raw-milk cheddar skip pasteurization if it is cured for at least 60 days. Below: what is recalled, what to do, and what a 60-day cure did to E. coli in the FDA’s own lab test.
The outbreak so farThirteen people, nine states, one cheese brand
Illnesses began between July 7 and August 26, 2026, according to CDC’s investigation page. The people who got sick range in age from 1 to 58, with a median age of 5. California and Nevada have three cases each; Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Oregon, Tennessee and Utah have one each. Eight of the 13, or 62 percent, were hospitalized.
All 9 people interviewed had eaten Graziers raw-milk cheese in the week before they fell ill, against 4.9 percent of respondents who reported eating raw-milk cheese in CDC’s FoodNet Population Survey, and whole genome sequencing showed the sick people’s bacteria are closely related. Neither agency reports a test of the cheese itself so far. CDC says the true count “is likely much higher than the number reported,” since many people are never tested. The FDA is still investigating the source and whether other products are affected.
Check your fridgeEvery Graziers raw-milk cheese, any size, any date
On September 24, at the FDA’s recommendation, the company recalled all Graziers raw-milk cheeses, which the FDA says were sold “at retailers nationwide and online”; no stores are named. There are no lot codes to hunt for. In its recall announcement, posted on the FDA’s site on September 29, the company says the illnesses “have been epidemiologically associated with consumption of Graziers Raw Milk Medium Cheddar,” that the investigation “has not been narrowed to a specific lot, date code, or production date,” and that it has stopped production and shipment of the whole line. Consumers with questions can call the company at (530) 934-8662, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific.
| Graziers raw-milk cheese | Size | UPC |
|---|---|---|
| Medium Cheddar | 8 oz | 6-87652-16506-8 |
| Medium Cheddar | 16 oz | 6-87652-16501-3 |
| Sharp Cheddar | 8 oz | 6-87652-16507-5 |
| Monterey Jack | 8 oz | 6-87652-16400-9 |
| Jalapeño Jack | 8 oz | 6-87652-16403-0 |
| Monterey Jack | 5 lb loaf | Item 6425 |
| Jalapeño Jack | 5 lb loaf | Item 6426 |
| Medium Cheddar | 5 lb loaf | Item 6510 |
| Sharp Cheddar | 5 lb loaf | Item 6511 |
| Cheddar block | 40 lb block | Items 6515, 6516 |
The agencies’ advice, in their words. The FDA: “This product has a long shelf life. Check your refrigerators and freezers for the recalled raw milk cheeses and throw them away. If you refrigerated or froze cheese without the original packaging and can’t tell if it’s part of the recall, throw it away.” Recalled cheese can also go back to the store for a refund. CDC adds: “Consider washing items and surfaces that may have touched the recalled cheeses using hot soapy water or a dishwasher.” For scale, our gut health recall tracker, which counts federal food recalls since 2019, found 93 E. coli recalls among the 1,033 tied to gut pathogens in its September 22 data pull.
Why aging doesn’t kill E. coliSixty days is a legal stand-in, not a kill step
Federal rules keep raw milk in its final package out of interstate sale, with a carve-out in 21 CFR 1240.61 for cheeses that follow the curing rules in part 133. For cheddar, 21 CFR 133.113 says that if the milk is not pasteurized, “the cheese is cured at a temperature of not less than 35 °F for at least 60 days.” That is how a raw-milk cheddar ships nationwide while a jug of raw milk cannot. Pasteurized cheese is a different product: its milk is heat-treated first. For raw-milk cheddar, time is the safety step, meant, FDA scientists wrote, to bring pathogens down “to an acceptable risk.”
Those same FDA scientists tested the cure. Schlesser and colleagues (2006) made cheddar from raw milk spiked with five acid-tolerant strains of E. coli O157:H7, which multiplied during cheesemaking, and aged it at 7 °C, about 45 °F. After 60 days the bacteria had fallen by less than 1 log, meaning less than 90 percent; after 120 days, by less than 2 logs. A 17.5-second heat treatment of the milk at 148 °F, milder than pasteurization, cut them by 5 logs, or 99.999 percent. The authors’ verdict: 60-day aging is “inadequate to eliminate” O157:H7.
At the University of Vermont, D’Amico and colleagues (2010) used a low dose, roughly 20 live bacteria per milliliter of milk. Counts rose almost tenfold during cheesemaking, fell to an average of 25 per gram in stirred-curd cheddar by day 60, and dropped below 5 per gram only after about 108 days; E. coli was still detectable after enrichment at more than 270 days. Aging pushes the numbers down; in these tests it did not get them to zero. In 2010, an aged raw-milk Gouda sickened 41 people in five states, though inspectors also reported “insufficient cheese curing times” at the maker (McCollum, 2012). Neither agency has said how the Graziers cheese was contaminated or how long it was aged. It is the frozen blueberry lesson again: cold and time slow bacteria down, and neither is a kill step.
Sixty days of curing is the legal stand-in for pasteurization. In the FDA’s own lab test, it cut E. coli by less than 90 percent.
Why O26 mattersThe strain that handles the trip through the gut
O26:H11 is in the same family as the better-known O157:H7: Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, or STEC, which CDC calls the most common cause of HUS. Every STEC other than O157 is grouped as “non-O157,” and O26 leads that group. In CDC’s FoodNet surveillance for 2000 to 2010 it caused 26 percent of non-O157 infections, the largest share, and as more labs tested for these strains, reported non-O157 cases rose to match O157’s rate (Gould, 2013).
The gut is where O26 stands out. French researchers fed raw-milk pressed cheeses carrying O26:H11 or O157:H7 through TIM, a lab machine that mimics the human stomach and small intestine (Miszczycha, 2014; funded by CNIEL, the French dairy sector’s trade body). Both strains grew during cheesemaking and held steady through ripening. In the artificial stomach, 1.8 percent of the O26 survived against 0.2 percent of the O157. Further down, O26 multiplied, reaching 663 percent of the amount swallowed against 36 percent for O157; overall it survived 13 times better. That is a lab model with one strain of each, not a study in people; what it shows is that the stomach knocked O26 back less.
The contextRaw milk’s year, in checkable facts
Raw milk has been a statehouse topic this year. One change we read at the source: Oklahoma’s SB 2028, approved by the governor on May 7, 2026, extends the on-farm sales exemption to raw-milk products as well as raw milk, allows those sales to be advertised, raises the cap from an average of 100 gallons a month to 1,500, and requires a state warning label saying the products “may contain harmful bacteria that can cause serious illness.” The FDA says intrastate raw-milk sales are each state’s decision; interstate sales have been barred by federal regulation since 1987.
At the population level, a model of US outbreak data for 2009 to 2014 (Costard, 2017; consultancy authors, USDA grant support) found that unpasteurized milk and cheese, consumed by an estimated 3.2 and 1.6 percent of people, caused 96 percent of outbreak illnesses from contaminated dairy: per serving, about 840 times the illnesses of pasteurized products. Most were Salmonella and Campylobacter, and Listeria illnesses were more often tied to pasteurized cheese. It follows an O157:H7 outbreak linked to Raw Farm raw cheddar and raw milk, 9 sick in three states, that CDC closed on April 30. CDC’s standing tip, printed in the current notice: “Choose pasteurized milk and dairy products. This is especially important for children under 5 because they are more likely to get a severe foodborne illness.”
Know the signsWhat CDC and the FDA say to watch for
Per the FDA, E. coli symptoms can begin a few days after eating contaminated food or up to nine days later. CDC says most people with STEC have severe stomach cramps, diarrhea that is often bloody, and vomiting. Its notice says to call a healthcare provider right away for diarrhea and a fever higher than 102 °F; diarrhea for more than 2 days that is not improving; bloody diarrhea; so much vomiting that you cannot keep liquids down; or signs of dehydration, such as not peeing much, a dry mouth and throat, or feeling dizzy when standing up. The FDA advises anyone who ate the recalled cheese and has symptoms of an E. coli infection to consult a health care provider immediately.
HUS, reported in three people here, is what CDC describes as serious kidney problems that need hospital care; among people with diarrhea, it is most common in children younger than 5. CDC lists its signs as peeing less often or not at all; losing pink color in the cheeks and inside the lower eyelids; unexplained bruising or tiny red spots on the skin; blood in the pee; feeling very tired or irritable; and decreased alertness. Most people with HUS recover within a few weeks, CDC says, though some are left with lasting health problems.
Sierra Nevada Cheese Company had no involvement in this article. It is educational, describes what the cited agency pages, recall statements, laws and studies say, and is not medical advice.