Officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) are urging anyone who has purchased A Joy brand raw milk to discard it after a sample tested positive for Listeria. The unpasteurized milk products included in this warning were sold in plastic half-gallon and gallon jugs at the A Joy Farm store at 21 Lalor Lane in Little Meadows, Susquehanna County.
Consumers who have purchased this product should not drink it as Listeria can cause serious illness and death. Among pregnant women, Listeria can cause miscarriages and stillbirths.
The PDA issued the warning because A Joy refused to issue a recall.
The milk in question may have a label and an “A2” or “A2/A2” product description, or it may have been sold unlabeled and undated.
Symptoms of a Listeria infection include high fever, severe headache, stiff neck, other muscle aches, nausea, diarrhea, confusion and loss of balance. Usually, these symptoms develop within 24 hours of exposure, but sometimes they can take as long as 70 days to appear. Pregnant women are more likely than the general population to contract Listeria infections and can suffer miscarriage, premature delivery, serious infection of the newborn, or stillbirth even if they experience only mild symptoms.