4 sickened: apple cider producer faces charges in Michigan year later

A northern Michigan farm owner faces criminal charges after at least four people who drank apple cider got sick.

James Ruster of Mitchell Hill Farm in Antrim County is charged with knowingly making adulterated, or unsanitary, food. Inspectors said his cider equipment was unsanitary and had powell_kids_ge_sweet_corn_cider_00-300x227dried food on it.

His customers got sick a year ago, including three who tested positive for E. coli. Ruster couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday. Someone who answered the phone at the farm hung up during a call from The Associated Press.

A table of fresh juice-related outbreaks is available at http://bites.ksu.edu/fresh-juice-outbreaks.

This entry was posted in E. coli, Raw Food and tagged , , , by Douglas Powell. Bookmark the permalink.

About Douglas Powell

A former professor of food safety and the publisher of barfblog.com, Powell is passionate about food, has five daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey. Download Doug’s CV here. Dr. Douglas Powell editor, barfblog.com retired professor, food safety 3/289 Annerley Rd Annerley, Queensland 4103 dpowell29@gmail.com 61478222221 I am based in Brisbane, Australia, 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time