Brookshire Farms reopens after E. coli outbreak that sickened 15 people

Brookshire Farms reopened to the public on Nov. 6 after a 10-day voluntary shutdown while the San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Health investigated an E. coli O157 outbreak linked to the farm. Laboratory testing confirmed five visitors had the infection, and ten additional visitors reported matching symptoms after attending the farm between Oct. 16 and Oct. 26.

Three children required pediatric intensive care for Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, a severe complication of the infection. One of the children, a 6-year-old from Nipomo, remains in critical condition at Stanford’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital after developing neurological complications and receiving multiple blood and platelet transfusions.

County Health Officer Dr. Christy Mulkerin said environmental sampling did not identify the specific source of the O157 strain, though other bacteria were detected in some samples. She noted that pinpointing the exact source can be difficult because bacterial contamination is often temporary and hard to detect with available methods.

Brookshire Farms co-owner Shawn Callaway told The Tribune that the farm maintains regular cleaning of restrooms, hand-washing stations, and sanitizing stations. He questioned whether pumpkins were involved, noting that the county did not test them and that many affected visitors had not handled pumpkins.

County officials later advised residents to wash pumpkins and avoid touching carved ones, and both San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria canceled their annual pumpkin-smash events. Mulkerin emphasized that the public should not fear pumpkins, stating the county does not intend to suggest they were the source of the outbreak.