California State Veterinarian Dr. Annette Whiteford ordered all milk, butter, cream, colostrum and "Qephor" by Organic Pastures Dairy Company pulled from the shelves.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture announced Tuesday that laboratory samples of Organic Pastures raw milk have not detected the particular strain of E. coli. But interviews with the families of five children infected with the strain between August and October indicate the only common food exposure was unpasteurized milk.
Three of the children were hospitalized with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition that may lead to kidney failure. No deaths are associated with the recall.
"All of the 25 pathegin tests for that period, and we do intensive pathegin testing were all zero for E. coli 1587, in other words it was perfectly fine. So, there's a whole lot of questions right now. we just don't know, and we're cooperating with the State of California," said president of Organic Pastures Mark McAfee.
In 2006, some Organic Pastures products were recalled as a precaution. It turned out that lab tests came back negative for E. coli in that case and the company was cleared.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
