Donald TrumpThe nominee for the nation’s top health job, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has vowed to allow wider distribution of crude. The milk across the US.
But now the detection of the bird flu virus in unpasteurized milk sold in California underscores what health experts say are known and potential risks.
“You have to assume that raw milk, unpasteurized milk, potentially contains infectious agents that can cause serious illness. Disease in people who drink it,” said Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Minnesota who has investigated foodborne disease outbreaks.
Raw Farm LLC of Fresno, Calif., voluntarily recalled all “Creamtop” raw milk last week to Santa Clara County health officials after a sample was found to contain the bird flu virus.
State health officials said the county is testing raw milk sold in stores as a “second line of consumer protection.”
No disease has been detected in the raw farm products, which have a code of 20241109 and a best-by date of November 27. . On Tuesday, Los Angeles County health officials warned that “many retailers” there have sold back raw milk contaminated with the virus.
Osterholm said it was no surprise that the virus was found in raw milk sold in stores.
Bird flu, also known as type A H5N1 influenza, was first confirmed in U.S. dairy cattle in March and is spreading widely. In California, more than 435 dairy herds have been infected — more than all other U.S. states combined. And high levels of the virus have been found in the milk of infected cows.
According to tests carried out earlier this year by government scientists, about 20 percent of samples of pasteurized milk sold in stores were found to contain traces of the virus. Pasteurization, or heat treatment, also kills bird flu viruses and bacteria such as E. coli, listeria and salmonella, which are known to make people sick.
California Department of Food and Agriculture officials are conducting weekly tests of raw milk in bulk tanks from dairies across the state. Additional tests at raw farm sites in California were negative for the virus, but officials said they would begin testing for bird flu twice a week.
Osterholm said some tests have been done on unpasteurized milk products from stores, so it’s possible that other raw milk products also contain the virus.
“It’s not really clear yet how much testing is going on,” Osterholm said. “We’re going blind.”
Can bird flu in raw milk make people sick?
To date, there is no evidence that people have contracted the bird flu virus from drinking raw milk. At least 55 people have been infected with the virus in the U.S. this year, but nearly all were dairy or poultry workers who developed mild illness after close contact with infected animals.
Tests have shown that mice fed raw milk contaminated with bird flu became very sick, and farm cats in farms that drank milk from infected cows suffered brain damage and died, Nicole Martin, a microbiologist and associate director of the Milk Quality Improvement Program at Cornell University. ,
“I don’t think we know yet whether people can get H5N1 from consuming raw milk, but we have a lot of evidence to suggest that people still need to be a little more careful,” Martin said. is.”
Who drinks raw milk and why?
About 4.4 percent of American adults, or about 11 million people, report drinking raw milk at least once each year. According to a 2022 FDA study, about 1 percent of adults say they consume raw milk each week.
Proponents of raw milk cite health benefits and improved taste as key reasons for consumption. Raw Farm advertises its products as “unprocessed and complete” with vitamins, minerals, enzymes and beneficial bacteria.
Fans include Kennedy, who has said he only drinks raw milk. Kennedy criticized the Department of Agriculture for cracking down on raw milk and promised that the Food and Drug Administration’s “aggressive crackdown” on unpasteurized milk would end under Trump.
Mark McAfee, owner of Raw Farm, has appeared several times on podcasts hosted by Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s former running mate. McAfee told The Associated Press that both Kennedy and Shanahan are customers.
“They want that same level of difference, great, tested, beautiful, safe, delicious raw milk for everybody,” McAfee said.
Health officials have warned for years that raw milk can cause illnesses that range from mild to life-threatening. Between 1998 and 2018, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documented more than 200 outbreaks from raw milk, which sickened more than 2,600 people and hospitalized more than 225.
According to the Center for Dairy Research, before the United States adopted safety standards known as the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance in 1924, about 25 percent of foodborne illnesses were caused by dairy consumption. Now, dairy products cause about 1% of such illnesses.