Contaminated grains got me sick! Now what?

July 22, 2012

Before I left for New York, I gathered all my kefir milk grains from multiple

sources and placed them in a plastic sandwich bag in the freezer. I had rinsed

them off, but forgot to check on how clean the bag was.

When I got back I rinsed them again and placed them in milk. The next day the

kefir tasted " off " , but I drank some anyway and them removed the grains, rinsed

them and placed them in fresh milk. I saved the off batch and mixed in some live

yogurt and buttermilk to improve the taste.

The next morning I had the runs, so I decided to use the bad batch only in

cooking, mixing it with scrambled eggs before frying them. Even then, I sipped

some to see if the flavor improved.

The second day's batch smelled off, so I dumped it, rinsing the grains and

remixing them with fresh milk. That afternoon I threw up everything I had eaten

in the last 18 or so hours, and it was barely digested. Later I had stomach

cramps and realized I had a case of food poisoning.

I've read about how " off " grains can be revived and refreshed by remixing and

rinsing daily with milk. My grains, however, might have a pathogen in them from

contamination caused by my carelessness. Would such a bad bug go away on its own

eventually or should I give up on my grains and toss them? I'm reluctant because

it cost me time and money to buy and nurture them. I really should have left

them in the fridge like Al said.

I'm feeling better today. I'm scared to try my grains again and dread throwing

them away. It'll be a while before I can afford to buy new grains after my

expensive trip to NYC. Meanwhile I keep refreshing the grains and hoping.

What should I do?

I sent this to the Off-Topic group first by mistake.

This is very much on topic.

Larry

July 22, 2012

Hi Larry,

What milk are you using?

In the future, never drink or use kefir that smells or tastes â€˜off.â€™ Always

use clean utensils and containers.

The method I use to freeze grains successfully is rinse them and gently but

thoroughly pat dry with a clean paper towel. If there is milk or water on the

grains, it will expand when it freezes and can damage the grains. Place in a

FoodSaver bag and use the gentle setting of the FoodSaver to remove the air. If

you donâ€™t have a FoodSaver, you can use a zip top freezer bag, removing all

the air that you can.

If you choose to keep them in the refrigerator for an extended period, the

colony may become â€˜unbalanced,â€™ but they can usually be rebalanced with a

few cycles of culturing.

You can try to revive the grains. Rinse them in cool, non-chlorinated water and

examine the grains. What do they look like? How do they feel when you gently

squeeze them? Place them in a jar with a little milk and wait until it sets up

or separates, then strain. Discard the kefir. Rinse again, gently squeeze the

grains and cover with milk again. Do this for several cycles (do not drink or

use the kefir) until the grains produce kefir that has the typical clean,

refreshing aroma of kefir. Once it smells and tastes right, you can gradually