ESTRELLA FAMILY CREAMERY AND THE FDA

The Estrella Family Creamery has been producing award-winning and delicious raw-milk cheeses in Montesano, Washington since 2001. But last Friday, FDA agents and federal marshals raided the farm, and the entire stock of cheese seized. What happened?

Estrella family photo from company website


Three times this year Estrella has been cited for the presence of the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, and forced to recall select varieties of cheese. L. monocytogenes can cause virulent food-borne illness, often resulting in death for the young, the old, or those with immune deficiencies. Unfortunately, at this time, information is conflicting as to how much listeria was found in the Estrella cheeses. Kelli Estrella, co-owner of the farm, has gone on record saying that there were only cases of isolated positives for listeria. The FDA press release on the seizure says that the cheeses were thought to “have the potential” to be contaminated with the bacterium, but there is no mention of any cheeses actually containing the pathogen. Listeria seems to cause a pretty serious illness in certain people, but even though Estrella has already issued three voluntary recalls this year, not a single known person has become ill through eating their cheeses.

After the FDA asked Estrella to recall all of its cheeses in September (not just the varieties that may have been contaminated, but all their cheese in production), Estrella refused. And so, with warrants and an apparent intent to take this court, the FDA has effectively shut down the Estrella business. The Estrella Family Creamery is actually a family business consisting of Anthony and Kelli Estrella and their children. Like other small businesses, I imagine they don’t have the financial resources to fend off the FDA or other governmental regulatory agencies in court.

Compare this all to the major recall of Wright County Eggs that happened in August of this year. Hundreds of people became ill with salmonella over the course of months before a recall was even issued. In the end, over 380,000,000 eggs were recalled! The company has a history of health, safety, and labor violations, and they still haven’t been shut down. A 2006 outbreak of E. coli—resulting in at least one death—was linked to Dole. Obviously, they’re still around and retailing spinach among many other things.

Estrella Family Creamery cheese

 

Why is Estrella being treated differently? All the other recalls I’ve cited have been tied to large companies and corporations. How does the size of Estrella, and their financial inability to fend off attack or threats play into this? Is it because they use raw milk for their production? In today’s super pro-pasteurization American society, raw milk is often treated with skepticism, if not outright fear. Doesn’t any food have the potential to be contaminated? I think that’s just a risk we have to take if we want to eat.