Kendal food poisoning 'linked to raw milk' Published duration 22 December 2016

image caption The farm sells about 70 litres of raw milk a day from a vending machine installed earlier this year

A food poising outbreak in Cumbria is linked to the sale of raw milk at a farm, council officials have said.

Six cases of campylobacter have so far been linked to people consuming unpasteurised milk from Low Sizergh Barn Farm in Kendal.

South Lakeland Council said it had launched a joint investigation with the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

The farm said it was co-operating with the inquiry and had suspended sales of raw milk from a vending machine.

Campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning and can lead to severe diarrhoea and vomiting.

'Prevent consumption'

Public Health England (PHE) also asked anyone who had bought raw milk from the farm or visited its tearoom in the past two months to complete an online questionnaire

A spokesman for South Lakeland Council said: "The number of confirmed cases is small, but it is important that we let people know about the situation in case others have been affected.

"The FSA is leading on the ongoing investigation at the farm and they are working to ensure measures are in place to prevent the public consuming unsafe products.

"Unpasteurised milk was removed from sale at the premises as soon as the campylobacter results were confirmed.''

An FSA spokesperson added: "Long-standing advice has been that vulnerable people - that's older people, infants, children, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems - are particularly vulnerable to food poisoning and that is why these groups should not be consuming raw drinking milk because it has not been heat treated."

The farm, which began offering unpasteurised milk from its vending machine in March, sells about 70 litres a day.

In August the farm won a National Trust fine farm produce award for its unpasteurised milk.