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Multiple Twin Sisters Creamery cheese products have been recalled following an E. coli outbreak in Washington and Oregon. To date, two adults and one child have reported illnesses linked to the outbreak. On October 25, 2025, Twin Sisters Creamery recalled Whatcom Blue, Farmhouse, Peppercorn, and Mustard Seed varieties of its 2.5-pound round cheese wheels. The cheese wheels were sent to distributors in Washington and Oregon. Some products were further distributed to retail stores for repacking or sold as pre-cut, half-moon-shaped pieces. The products are made with raw, unpasteurized milk and may be contaminated with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and Escherichia coli O103. Third-party testing of Farmhouse cheese samples confirmed the presence of E. coli O103. Whatcom Blue samples analyzed by the FDA and the Washington State Department of Agriculture tested positive for E. coli STEC. On October 26, 2025, Washington State-based food distributor Peterson Company recalled half-moon-shaped pieces of Farmhouse, Whatcom Blue, and Twin Sisters Creamery cheeses after Twin Sisters Creamery notified them of the three reported STEC infections. The FDA published the Twin Sisters Creamery and Peterson Company recall notices on October 27, 2025. Heres what you need to know. [Photos: via FDA] Which products are included in the recalls? The following Twin Sisters Creamery products have been recalled: 2.5-pound Whatcom Blue cheese wheels 2.5-pound Farmhouse cheese wheels 2.5-pound Peppercorn cheese wheels 2.5-pound Mustard Seed cheese wheels Roughly 5 to 6-ounce half-moon-shaped pieces of Whatcom Blue cheese Roughly 5 to 6-ounce half-moon-shaped pieces of Farmhouse cheese The 2.5-pound round cheese wheels were shipped to distributors in Washington and Oregon between July 27, 2025, and October 22, 2025. The cheese wheels may also have been further distributed to retail stores for repacking or sold as pre-cut, half-moon-shaped cheese pieces with different lot numbers and expiration dates. The recalled 2.5-pound round cheese wheels have the following batch codes: Batch Code 250527B Whatcom Blue Batch Code 250610B Whatcom Blue Batch Code 250618B Whatcom Blue Batch Code 250624B Whatcom Blue Batch Code 250603F Farmhouse Batch Code 250616B Farmhouse Batch Code 250603P Peppercorn Batch Code 250616M Mustard Seed The recalled half-moon-shaped cheese pieces were packaged in clear wrap and distributed to retailers and food businesses, including caterers, distributors, and restaurants, in Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington between August 14, 2025, and October 24, 2025. They have the following manufacturer codes printed or them or on a sticker: Item# 28855 Whatcom Blue MFG Code 793511 Item# 28855 Whatcom Blue MFG Code 781511 Item# 28855 Whatcom Blue MFG Code 775511 Item# 28855 Whatcom Blue MFG Code 761511 Item# 29608 Farmhouse MFG Code 765511 Item# 29608 Farmhouse MFG Code 752511 Item# 29608 Farmhouse MFG Code 738511 Item# 29608 Farmhouse MFG Code 726511 Do not consume the recalled products. Consumers who have purchased any of the recalled products should return them to the place of purchase for a full refund. If you have questions, call Twin Sisters Creamery at 360-656-5240 or Peterson Company at (800) 735-0313, extension 2101. Three infections linked to the E. coli outbreak There have been three reports of STEC infections caused by E. coli O103 to date, one in Oregon and two in Washington. One of the three reported infections involved a young child. An infected Oregon resident consumed Twin Sisters Creamery Farmhouse cheese before becoming ill. The Washington State Department of Health, Oregon Health Authority, and federal authorities are investigating the outbreak. E. coli can cause STEC infections You can get an STEC infection by eating foods contaminated by E. coli. Symptoms may include diarrhea, stomach cramps, or blood in the stool. Symptoms typically appear 1 to 10 days after exposure. The FDA recall notices explain that STEC infection can lead to Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), which is a life-threatening condition that can cause kidney failure and have fatal complications. HUS is particularly dangerous for young children, elderly adults, and immunocompromised people.
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UnitedHealth on Tuesday raised its annual profit forecast and said it aims to grow in 2026, in a sign that the turnaround efforts under new CEO Stephen Hemsley were gaining steam. Shares of the company rose more than 5% in premarket trading after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings as the U.S. health insurer kept medical costs in check. The company had set a far lower profit forecast in July after suspending its prior outlook in May, which had sent its shares reeling. The healthcare giant now sees 2025 adjusted profit per share to be at least $16.25, compared with its previous estimate of at least $16.00, and above analysts estimate of $16.20 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG. “We remain focused on strengthening performance and positioning for durable and accelerating growth in 2026 and beyond, and our results this quarter reflect solid execution toward that goal,” said newly returned CEO Hemsley. Hemsley, who was at the helm of the company from 2006 to 2017, has been working to regain investor and consumer trust in the wake of an unexpected surge in medical costs and Americans’ anger at the high price of health care. He was brought in earlier this year as part of a management shakeup and has since replaced several long-time executives. UnitedHealth said it continues to see elevated costs, which the industry has been struggling with for more than two years. For the third quarter ended September 30, the company’s medical loss ratio the percentage of premiums spent on medical care stood at 89.9%, in line with the company’s expectations. Insurers aim for a ratio close to around 80%. Analysts on average had expected the company to report a ratio of 89.87%. Shares of peers CVS Health, Humana and Elevance rose about 2% before the bell. UnitedHealth’s quarterly revenue at its Optum health services unit was flat year-over-year at $25.9 billion. Revenue at Optum Rx, UnitedHealth’s pharmacy benefit manager, rose 16% to $39.7 billion, partly helped by higher prescription volumes. On an adjusted basis, the company earned a profit of $2.92 per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ average estimate of $2.79. Sriparna Roy and Sneha S K, Reuters
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Bill Gates thinks climate change is a serious problem but it won’t be the end of civilization. He thinks scientific innovation will curb it, and it’s instead time for a “strategic pivot” in the global climate fight: from focusing on limiting rising temperatures to fighting poverty and preventing disease.A doomsday outlook has led the climate community to focus too much on near-term goals to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause warming, diverting resources from the most effective things that can be done to improve life in a warming world, Gates said. In a memo released Tuesday, Gates said the world’s primary goal should instead be to prevent suffering, particularly for those in the toughest conditions in the world’s poorest countries.If given a choice between eradicating malaria and a tenth of a degree increase in warming, Gates told reporters, “I’ll let the temperature go up 0.1 degree to get rid of malaria. People don’t understand the suffering that exists today.”The Microsoft co-founder spends most of his time now on the goals of the Gates Foundation, which has poured tens of billions of dollars into health care, education and development initiatives worldwide, including combating HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. He started Breakthrough Energy in 2015 to speed up innovation in clean energy.He wrote his 17-page memo hoping to have an impact on next month’s United Nations climate change conference in Brazil. He’s urging world leaders to ask whether the little money designated for climate is being spent on the right things.Gates, whose foundation provides financial support for Associated Press coverage of health and development in Africa, is influential in the climate change conversation. He expects his “tough truths about climate” memo will be controversial.“If you think climate is not important, you won’t agree with the memo. If you think climate is the only cause and apocalyptic, you won’t agree with the memo,” Gates said during a roundtable discussion with reporters ahead of the release. “It’s kind of this pragmatic view of somebody who’s, you know, trying to maximize the money and the innovation that goes to help in these poor countries.” Climate scientists say every fraction of a degree of warming matters Every bit of additional warming correlates to more extreme weather, risks species extinction and brings the world closer to crossing tipping points where changes become irreversible, scientists say.University of Washington public health and climate scientist Kristie Ebi said she thoroughly agrees with Gates that the U.N. negotiations should focus on improving human health and well-being. But, she said, Gates assumes the world stays static and only one variable changes faster deployment of green technologies to curb climate change. She called that unlikely.Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, called the memo “pointless, vague, unhelpful and confusing.”“There is no reason to pit poverty reduction versus climate transformation. Both are utterly feasible, and readily so, if the Big Oil lobby is brought under control,” he wrote in an email.Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field said there is room for a healthy discussion about whether the current framing of the climate crisis is typically too pessimistic.“But we should also invest for both the long term and the short term,” he wrote in an email. “A vibrant long-term future depends on both tackling climate change and supporting human development.”Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer said he doesn’t dispute the principle of making human well-being the primary objective of policy, but what about the natural world?“Climate change is already wreaking havoc there,” he wrote in an email. “Can we truly live in a technological bubble? Do we want to?”Gates is clear in his memo that every tenth of a degree of warming matters: “A stable climate makes it easier to improve people’s lives.” Carbon dioxide pollution is increasing A decade ago, the world agreed in a historic pact known as the Paris agreement to try to limit human-caused warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times. The goal: to stave off nastier heat waves, wildfires, storms and droughts.In a 2021 book, Gates laid out a plan for reducing emissions to avoid a climate disaster. But humans are on track to release so much greenhouse gas by early 2028 that scientists say crossing that 1.5-degree threshold is now nearly unavoidable.Breakthrough Energy focuses on areas where the cost of doing something cleanly is much higher than the polluting way, such as making clean steel and cement. Gates concluded his memo by saying governments should work toward driving this difference to zero, and be rigorous about measuring the impact of every effort in the world’s climate agenda. Gates is optimistic innovation will curb climate change Gates said the pace of innovation in clean energy has been faster than he expected, allowing cheap solar and wind energy to replace coal, oil and natural gas plants for electricity and averting worst-case warming scenarios. Artificial intelligence is helping accelerate advances in clean energy technologies, he added.At the same time, money to help developing countries adapt to climate change is shrinking. Led by the United States, rich countries are cutting their foreign aid budgets. President Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax.Gates criticized the aid cuts. He said Gavi, a public-private partnership started by his philanthropic foundation that buys vaccines, will have 25% less money for the next five years compared to the past five years. Gavi can save a life for a little more than $1,000, he added.Vaccines become even more important in a warming world because children who aren’t dying of measles or whooping cough will be more likely to survive when a heat wave hits or a drought threatens the local food supply, he wrote.Health and prosperity are the best defense against climate change, Gates said, citing research from the University of Chicago Climate Impact Lab that found projected deaths from climate change fall by more than 50% when accounting for the expected economic growth over the rest of this century.Under these circumstances, he thinks the bar must be “very high” for what’s funded with aid money.“If you have something that gets rid of 10,000 tons of emissions, that you’re spending several million dollars on,” he said, “that just doesn’t make the cut.” AP Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report. The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. Jennifer McDermott, Associated Press
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