Hollister Dairy Tied to Illness Outbreak in ’97

State investigators say a dairy here has been linked to the nation’s largest poisoning by drug-resistant salmonella bacteria.

Their conclusion, based on DNA evidence, appears to solve the mystery of the 1997 outbreak that left 110 area residents with fevers, stomach cramps, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. The victims, many of them children, got sick after eating unpasteurized cheese.

Fourteen people were hospitalized, but all recovered.

The investigation linked the raw cheese to unlicensed cheese makers operating out of a small apartment kitchen. According to documents obtained by the San Jose Mercury News, the rare DT104 strain of salmonella bacteria in the cheese was traced to milk that came from the Acquistapace Brothers Dairy in Hollister, about 90 miles south of San Francisco.

However, there was no proof--such as sales receipts or eyewitness evidence--that the dairy sold the raw milk to the unlicensed cheese makers. While the presence of germs in milk is not a crime, selling raw milk to unlicensed manufacturers of dairy products is a felony in California.