FDA Publishes Recall of a New York Raw Milk Cheddar Cheese Over STEC E. coli O26:H11 and O45:H2 Detected in Maryland

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published on October 15, 2026 the recall of a batch of mild cheddar cheese made with raw milk by a New York State dairy, due to possible contamination with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) of serotypes O26:H11 and O45:H2. The finding comes from the LFFM program, through which the FDA supports state food testing laboratories: in Maryland, two STEC strains were isolated from two samples of the cheese in 8-ounce packages. No illnesses have been reported.

The affected batch is identified by its code and a best-before date of July 22, 2027, and no other products from the company are included. According to the notice, the cheese was sold to food stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia and Massachusetts, although it may have reached other states through distributors. The company updated the announcement to correct the distribution pattern and the serotype, since the first version mentioned E. coli O157:H7. Consumers are asked not to eat the product and to discard it or return it to the place of purchase for a refund.

O26 and O45 belong to the non-O157 STEC serogroups that most frequently cause illness. The infection causes diarrhea, often bloody, and although most healthy adults recover within a week, some people develop hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a form of kidney failure more likely in young children and older people that can cause serious kidney damage and even death. In raw milk cheeses there is no pasteurization step to eliminate the bacterium if it arrives with the milk, and ripening alone does not guarantee its inactivation. The recall comes a few weeks after the FDA and the CDC reported, on September 25, an outbreak of E. coli O26:H11 linked to raw milk cheeses from another producer, with 13 people ill in nine states and three cases of HUS.

For cheesemakers working with raw milk, the case shows that STEC control cannot be limited to O157:H7: non-O157 serogroups require methods targeting the Shiga toxin genes, applied to the milk entering the plant and to the cheese before release, followed by isolation and confirmation of the serotype. TAAG's Ampliora 3.9 kit detects STEC, E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella spp. by real-time PCR, so it covers the type of pathogen in the recall; its validated matrices are leafy greens and ground beef, not cheeses, so the association is indirect. Presumptive results must be confirmed with the reference method.