PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. — A second Central Virginia school system has suspended the sale of Marva Maid milk after finding spoiled milk.
The Director for School Food and Nutrition Services in Prince William County, Virginia sent a letter to parents on Monday stating they first reported isolated cases of spoilage to Marva Maid on May 23.
On May 29, Henrico County schools reported four students at the an elementary school reported nausea after drinking spoiled milk supplied by Marva Maid in Newport News.
The dairy’s management team immediately investigated the complaint and determined that the milk in question had spoiled two days earlier than expected,” the company later said in a statement.
Accordingly, Marva Maid notified customers on Thursday May 29, that it was voluntarily withdrawing all ½-pints with a May 30 expiration date.
Then the company announced late Friday that it withdrawing all ½-pints with expiration dates from May 30 through June 2 “out of an abundance of caution.”
State health officials provided an update Tuesday afternoon on their investigation into recent milk-related illnesses in public schools.
“Testing on the milk from the Henrico County and Prince William County incidents found elevated levels of bacteria consistent with milk that spoiled prematurely,” Virginia Department of Health officials wrote in a news release.
Trump said the health department began to investigate after receiving a complaint from Henrico schools on May 28. The agency said they were later made aware of another incident in Prince William County.
Officials said they are examining everything from production to storage to distribution in their ongoing investigation.
“Recent milk testing at the plant is within standards indicating that the spoilage problem was of a temporary nature. VDH has no indication of ongoing illness associated with this milk,” VDH said.
Marva Maid, whose milk is only distributed in Virginia, released the following statement to CBS 6 News Tuesday afternoon.
“Marva Maid received feedback from Prince William County Schools on May 23 that the school system had three cases of milk that had spoiled prematurely. We picked up the milk and replaced it. We also investigated to make sure that the delivery truck was properly refrigerated. At that point, there were no other complaints to indicate a larger problem beyond this one isolated incident.
Please remember that milk is a perishable commodity and it spoils, sometimes faster than anticipated. The most common reason why milk spoils prematurely is because of a lack of proper refrigeration. It is very important to store milk between 36-38 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal freshness.
Our standard protocol when we receive a complaint about spoiled milk is to investigate the issue. We will come pick up the milk and replace it. We will go through our processes and procedures to ensure milk was kept cold from the plant to the customer.
Again, we had no reason on May 23 to believe that there was an issue beyond this isolated incident.”
Depend on WTVR.com and watch CBS 6 News for updates on this developing story.
