Emily Marris, a 48-year-old mother living in Winchester, Riverside County, turned to a local Facebook group for a remedy to her infant daughter Brooklyn’s chronic constipation. The group, managed by her chiropractor Chris Boman, featured a post advertising raw goat milk from a nearby farm. Believing the unprocessed product would be gentler than cow’s milk, Marris bought the milk and began feeding it to her 17-month-old daughter.
Within weeks Brooklyn developed severe vomiting, bloody diarrhea and a dangerous form of kidney failure known as hemolytic uremic syndrome. At Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, doctors identified an E. coli O157:H7 infection as the likely cause and traced the child’s recent diet back to the raw goat milk. A second case emerged shortly after: a six-year-old girl, Victoria Galindo, whose family also purchased milk from the same source, suffered identical symptoms and required intensive care.
From a mother’s search to a life-threatening infection
Before the illness, Marris had documented her experience with praise-filled texts to the farm’s owner, Courtney Baker, who repeatedly assured her that the milk came from a “clean tested herd” and was “raw goat milk from a clean tested herd.” The farmer even responded enthusiastically when Brooklyn happily drank the jug. For six months the family reported no problems, reinforcing Marris’s confidence in the product.
When Brooklyn’s condition deteriorated, Marri s collected the text exchanges, photographs of the unlabeled milk jug, and hospital records, forwarding them to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. She hoped the evidence would halt distribution before more children were harmed. The physician-led team at the hospital confirmed the presence of the deadly strain, emphasizing that as few as ten bacterial cells can contaminate unpasteurized milk and cause fatal illness.
Regulators uncover an illegal dairy operation
Investigators quickly learned that the milk in question had not originated from any of the state’s dozen licensed raw-milk dairies. The farm operated entirely off the radar, selling gallons without labels or required pathogen testing. On June 17, 2025, an undercover agent posed as a buyer on the farm’s Facebook page, messaging, “Would like to buy like a gallon 🤗🤗🤗.” The farm replied that milk was sold by the gallon and would be shipped as soon as possible.
This interaction gave authorities concrete proof that the dairy was selling raw milk for human consumption without a license—a violation punishable by fines up to $10,000 and up to one year in jail. Coupled with the two cooperating families and documented hospitalizations, the case met the threshold for immediate enforcement. The investigation highlighted a broader problem: California’s regulatory framework permits licensed farms to sell raw milk only if they meet strict sanitation and testing standards, yet black-market operations continue to thrive under the veil of consumer demand.
Legal backdrop and public-health implications
California’s approach to raw milk is a compromise. While the state allows a limited number of farms to sell unpasteurized milk, each must undergo routine inspections and batch testing. Products must bear clear warnings about the elevated risk of Foodborne Illness. Despite these safeguards, ProPublica previously reported that the licensing system had not prevented outbreaks, underscoring the difficulty of policing a market fueled by misinformation.
Nationally, raw-milk consumption has surged, amplified by social-media influencers and political rhetoric that downplays safety concerns. In the past two years, hundreds of individuals across nine states fell ill after consuming raw milk or products derived from it. The California case illustrates how a single unlicensed operation can ignite a chain reaction, endangering vulnerable children and straining healthcare resources. It also serves as a cautionary tale for parents who seek “natural” alternatives without fully understanding the associated public-health risks of unpasteurized dairy.
