Bird flu virus identified in raw milk sold in California

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has detected the bird flu or ‘bird flu’ virus in a sample of a raw milk product. The product, which was on sale at retailers at the time of testing, has now been recalled by the manufacturer after the State of California requested that it be withdrawn from sale.

The affected product is Cream Top, Whole Raw Milk, produced and packaged by Raw Farm, LLC of Fresno County with lot code 2024110. The best buy date of the lot is November 27, 2024, meaning consumers can still get it. No illnesses have currently been reported from this batch of milk, but it may take several days for people to develop bird flu after exposure. According to the World Health Organisationmost people develop symptoms within 2 to 5 days, but they can take up to 17 days to develop.

According to the CDC, symptoms of bird flu may include fever or chills, redness or irritation of the eyes, and respiratory symptoms, such as coughing, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headache, and fatigue.

Customers should not consume products matching the above description and should return the product to stores or discard it. The CDPH is also in the process of notifying retailers about the infected product, warning them to remove it from their shelves. The CDPH has since visited both locations of the company’s farms and found no further evidence of bird flu. The CDPH will continue to test the farm’s milk twice a week.

The CDPH emphasizes that there is no risk in consuming pasteurized milk because the milk is heated to temperatures that inactivate bacteria and viruses. However, raw milk does not go through this process, which means that any bacteria or viruses in the milk can be transferred to the consumer. Public health departments too as the CDC have long warned about the dangers of consuming raw milk, which is responsible for outbreaks of Listeria, E. coli, Campylobacter and Salmonella, among others.

California has been hit by bird flu outbreaks in both dairy cows and poultry farms 400 dairy herds affected from November 22. Twenty-nine human cases have also been recorded in the state, mainly individuals who have had close contact with infected livestock. The number of infected individuals is likely under-reported and very little is known so far about the severity of the disease in humans. Just two days ago, the CDC confirmed one case of H5N1 bird flu in a child in California with no known contact with livestock.