Milk recalled in New York because of improper pasteurization

Routine testing by New York officials has revealed some milk from Mountain Fresh Dairy LLC was not properly pasteurized, prompting a recall of kosher milk that was distributed to food pantries and sold at non-profit stores.

There is concern that consumers may have unused portions of the recalled 1 percent “Mountain Fresh Kosher Dairy Cholov Yisroel” milk in their homes because it has a use-by date of July 7, according to a food safety alert posted Wednesday by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

“Proper pasteurization heats milk in order to effectively eliminate all pathogenic bacteria, such as Listeria and Salmonella. No illnesses have been reported to date to the department in connection with this product,” according to the June 28 alert.

“The product was packaged in half-gallon, plastic containers bearing the container code of: USE BY JUL 07 2017.”

No other identifying or traceability information is included in the health alert. The alert did not include any product photographs.

The Binghamton, NY, milk processing company distributed the recalled product to the Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse (CHOW) in Broome County, NY, and three “Non Profit Grocery Stores” in New Jersey. The implicated grocery stores are at:

• 2080 W. County Line Road, Jackson, NJ;
• 231 Main Street, Lakewood, NJ; and
• 52 James Street, Lakewood, NJ.

Mountain Fresh Dairy LLC has only been in operation since November of 2016. It is in the former Crowley Foods milk processing facility. Mountain Fresh bought the idle facility in 2013, but encountered multiple start-up problems, according to pressconnects.com, which is part of the USA Today media company.

“When Crowley left they took every single pipe, every fitting,” Zeev Rothschild, Mountain Fresh Dairy partner, told pressconnects.

“Mountain Fresh Daily raised eyebrows among economic developers almost immediately after the deal was closed, falling behind on its loan payments to the city Local Development Corp. soon after the loan was approved. Officials said the company is now current,” according to pressconnects.

The online news publication also reported in November 2016 that Mountain Fresh had failed to pay more than $155,000 in county, city and school taxes dating back to 2015, according to Broom County officials.

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