Raw milk vending machine given the all clear after FSA investigation

A VENDING machine selling unpasteurised milk at a Milford dairy farm is back up and running after it was shut down over a food poisoning scare.

Owner of New Forest Raw Milk, Sarah Cobb, says she is “absolutely delighted” the ban on selling milk fresh from the cows on her family farm – Sarah’s Dairy – has been lifted.

She told the A&T: “Our milk has been given a clean bill of health and we are open for business again.”

The Food Standards Agency launched an investigation at the farm on Cliff Road when a family of three complained they had been infected with campylobacter after drinking milk from the machine.

But after seven weeks of tests, no sign of campylobacter - or any other dangerous bacteria - has been found to be contained in the milk and the farm is free to sell it again.

Speaking to the A&T, Sarah said: “It’s a mixture of relief and happiness. It has been a very difficult and upsetting seven weeks because the milk provided money for our family essentials which included food and fuel.

“What has been absolutely fantastic is the amount of support we have received from the public and customers. It was totally overwhelming and humbling to be honest.

“When I put up the news that we were open again on our Facebook page we received well over 1,000 comments.”

Supporters of the farm, which installed the vending machine in May, even got up a petition to send to the government demanding the ban be lifted.

Sarah said she was told there were 11 cases of campylobacter in the New Forest area, of which three might be linked to the raw milk the farm sells.

Campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK. Undercooked meat, especially poultry, is often associated with the illness. Human infection usually results from eating or handling raw or undercooked meat, or from cross-contamination during food preparation.

Campylobacter is also recognised as a frequent cause of 'traveller diarrhoea'.

After the cases in the New Forest were reported to the authorities, the Food Standards Agency ordered the vending machine be immediately shut down, and intensive tests were carried out by the agency for the next seven weeks.

Sarah said: “We have always been meticulous about testing our milk ourselves. It is tested every other day when a tanker arrives to collect it for our contract with a major supermarket. That test has always been clear.

“The National Milk Record also carry out a monthly test which was also always clear.

“During the seven weeks we even paid out £150 on an independent test carried out at a lab near Bournemouth on our milk and that was also clear.

“We are very much safety first and are very, very thorough when it comes to cleaning machinery and equipment.

“That’s why we were so surprised when we were told we were under investigation. Since the vending machine was installed, we have sold 2,500 litres of milk from it, and these three cases were the first claims of any kind of problem with it.

“I was pretty confident we would be alright in the end. If it had been traced to us then I would have been extremely upset but would have accepted it.

“But I am glad to say that all tests have shown that it had nothing to do with us at all.”

Sarah said she was given the good news she could start reselling her milk last Friday morning, and there was a queue of customers for it the next morning.

She said: “The shutdown has cost us thousands, but we have received quite a lot of good advertising through it as so many people have shared our story on social media and spoken about how much they love our milk.

“We have had a lot of happy and relieved customers coming to tell us how pleased they are we are open again. We are just relieved that it is all over.”