Families sue farm, Whole Foods over contaminated raw milk

A pair of families have sued a farm and Whole Foods market that sold contaminated raw milk which led to kidney failure in two children.

According to The Hartford Courant, three children – a brother and sister, along with another child – became ill after drinking contaminated milk they purchased at a Whole Foods store in West Hartford, Conn., in July 2008.

The report does not specify what contaminant was in the raw milk, which is not pasteurized, leaving active cultures in it. Some people drink raw milk when they can’t drink other dairy products, or simply because they believe it has health benefits pasteurized milk can not offer.

However, that missing step which kills off active cultures and often leads to contaminations, namely Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli poisoning.

According to the report, all three children who fell ill last year after drinking the milk were hospitalized. Two of them suffered kidney failure and needed dialysis treatments.