The El Dorado County HealthDepartment says unpasteurized juice from High Hill Ranch has tested positive for E-coli.
High Hill voluntarily discontinued the production and sale of the juice dated on or after Oct. 6, 2015.
Here are the dates of the investigation:
On October 23, the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services says there were at least seven cases of E. coli illness among residents of Sacramento County who consumed unpasteurized apple juice either sampled at or purchased from High Hill Ranch between October 10 and October 12, 2015.
On October 23, High Hill Ranch voluntarily discontinued the processing, sale and distribution of unpasteurized apple juice currently in stock. Unpasteurized apple juice was replaced with a flash pasteurized apple juice product produced and bottled by another local vendor.
On October 23, the County of El Dorado issued a press release advising the public of a voluntary recall of unpasteurized apple juice initiated by High Hill Ranch due to suspected contamination with bacteria, likely a strain of E. coli. Consumers were advised not to consume unpasteurized apple juice purchased on or after October 6, 2015, and to dispose of any remaining product.
On October 29, the California Department of Public Health notified the County that there were 13 ill patients associated with the consumption of unpasteurized apple juice from High Hill Ranch. Three of these patients were laboratory confirmed with E. coli. Two additional patients were subsequently confirmed to have E. coli.
On October 30, High Hill Ranch notified the County that they had submitted samples of unpasteurized apple juice to an independent laboratoryfor testing for E. coli. The juice samples tested were from a separate and subsequent production run after the suspected processing period that may have contained harmful bacteria.
On November 4, the County was notified by the CDPH that a sample of unpasteurized juice obtained from one of the ill Sacramento County patients had tested positive for E. coli.
On November 5, the County was notified by the CDPH that all laboratory samples collected from High Hill Ranch on October 21, by CDPH were negative for the presence of E. coli.
High Hill Ranch has voluntarily discontinued the production and sale of unpasteurized apple juice indefinitely. No other High Hill Ranch products are being investigated. High Hill Ranch continues to fully cooperate with local and state health officials during this ongoing investigation.
A table of juice-related outbreaks is available at: https://barfblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Juice-related-outbreaks-11-5-15.xlsx