Raw milk sold by RFK Jr. supporter emerges as possible source of e. coli outbreak

When President Donald Trump appointed Robert Kennedy Jr. as his Secretary of Health and Human Services, the presidential nephew was criticized for his many pseudoscientific beliefs, among them his support for raw milk.

Now an e. coli outbreak in California has been linked to the raw milk-based products made by one of Kennedy’s own allies.

“As of March 13, 2026, seven individuals from three states have been infected with the outbreak strain of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) O157, including five California residents,” reported the California Department of Public Health on Sunday. “Four illnesses are in children under the age of five. Two individuals have been hospitalized, including one from California. No deaths or cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a severe complication of STEC infection that can cause organ failure and even death, have been reported.”

The press release added that the people infected with e. coli all indicate “that RAW FARM brand raw cheddar cheese is the likely source of recent infections. A voluntary recall of RAW FARM brand raw cheddar cheese has been recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, as of March 18, 2026, RAW FARM has not voluntarily removed the cheese from the market.”

Indeed, Raw Farm president Aaron McAfee posted an Instagram video on Friday in which he declared “this has been a great week. This is the necessary steps we have to take to show the FDA, CDC, CDPH and CDPA that we are not linked to the outbreak they are alleging. And I’m really happy with how things are going.”

He also claimed that his company is cooperating with FDA investigators, insisting that “all the tests are negative” for E. coli in their products such as the raw cheese.

Last year, when Kennedy was being appointed and confirmed to his Cabinet post, his relationship with McAfee garnered increased attention. Critics pointed out that raw milk can contain bird flu virus and other pathogens linked to serious diseases like e. coli and others that cause miscarriages, kidney diseases and even death. Despite these concerns, Kennedy asked McAfee to apply for a job as the FDA’s raw milk standards and policy adviser as well as draft proposals to federally certify raw dairy farms.

“If the FDA says raw milk is now legal and the CDC comes through and says it advises drinking raw milk, that’s a recipe for mass infection,” warned Angela Rasmussen, a virologist and co-editor-in-chief of the medical journal Vaccine and an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University in New York, at the time.

By May of last year, after Kennedy had already assumed office, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wa.) accused Kennedy in a statement of being dishonest and irresponsible with the public’s health.

“RFK Jr. is a shameless liar and, candidly, an insane conspiracy theorist,” Murray wrote on X at the time. “He’s fired the people who monitor bird flu. He’s fired food safety inspectors. He’s firing NIH clinical staff—and he’s cutting cancer research. This grifter is making America LESS healthy & LESS safe.”

Kennedy’s is also a well-known critic of vaccines, including the polio vaccine, a position that baffled that vaccine manufacturer’s son when he spoke with this journalist for Salon Magazine in 2024.

Dr. Peter Salk said his father would be "really puzzled" by anti-vaxxer ideology, especially as his father gave away his vaccine for free because he believed vaccines were a beneficial technology that people should embrace.

"His whole commitment was protecting the population from infectious diseases," Salk told this journalist at the time.