Italian boy (13) who had been in a coma for 9 years after eating contaminated raw cheese dies

© Marcelo Leal via Unsplash

Mattia Maestri, a 13-year-old Italian boy who fell into a coma nine years ago after eating contaminated raw cheese, has died. His father announced the news. Since the incident in June 2017, his father has been campaigning for more warnings on the packaging of products made from raw milk or young-aged cheese.

In 2017, 4-year-old Mattia Maestri fell into a vegetative state after eating a cheese snack (“Due Laghi”) that was partly made from raw milk and contaminated with E. coli due to a manure-contaminated pipeline. He died this week, nine years later.

His father, Giovanni Battista Maestri, describes in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica how Mattia fell into a coma after severe cramps and had since been dependent on medication, tube feeding, and intensive care, suffering dozens of epileptic seizures per day.

The cheese company was convicted of “gross negligence.” The father calls the producers “murderers” and has been campaigning for years for warning labels and a ban on raw milk products in schools, daycare centers, and care facilities, including through a book that was recently presented to the Italian Senate.

© Marcelo Leal via Unsplash - Illustrative image