Health officials in California have discovered the bird flu virus in raw milk for sale at a store in the state, a development that scientists have been anticipating and concerned about for some time following the ongoing outbreak of bird flu in dairy cows.
Although the human health effects of drinking H5N1 milk are unknown, scientists studying the virus fear what consuming milk containing the virus could do. Milk that comes directly from infected cows contains extremely high levels of virus. Laboratory research shows that consumption of raw milk causes serious diseases in some animal models. And there have been several reports of dead cats on farms with H5N1-infected cows.
In a statement released Sunday, the California Department of Public Health announced that Raw Milk LLC, a Fresno County manufacturer, had voluntarily recalled a batch of a product called cream top full raw milk at the state’s request. The lot, with the code 20241109, had a best before date of November 27.
The product containing the virus was purchased by the Santa Clara County Department of Public Healththat tested commercial raw milk for the virus, on November 21. The province said the milk contained the H5 virus, suggesting its laboratory had not yet completed testing to indicate the virus’s N number. However, given how widespread the H5N1 virus is in California, it is very likely that this is what the lab detected.
Retailers selling the product have been advised to remove the affected batch from their shelves, and consumers who purchased the milk should immediately return any remaining product to the store where it was purchased, the news release said. To date, no illnesses have been traced to consumption of the recalled milk.
Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy, suggested it was only a matter of time before the virus was found in commercially sold raw milk.
“I think the main message here is that this is not a surprise,” said Osterholm, Minnesota’s former state epidemiologist, a position in which he investigated multiple disease outbreaks linked to raw milk consumption.
He said it is not yet clear what the risk will be for everyone who consumes this milk.
“We don’t know what oral consumption of milk will do. Some people have extrapolated from the fact that…cats have [become infected] by oral ingestion of milk. We don’t know how that plays out in people,” he said.
“It’s not a good thing. We absolutely don’t want this to happen. But we also have to recognize that we don’t know exactly what the risk is.”
Robert Kennedy Jr., the Trump administration’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, is a proponent of raw milk consumption and revealed in 2023 that it only milk he drinks. He has criticized the Food and Drug Administration — which will be part of his purview should he be confirmed as HHS secretary — for its “aggressive repressionof raw milk and other things he believes would contribute to a healthier America.
Nicole Shanahan, who was Kennedy’s running mate in his aborted presidential bid, also promotes raw milk consumption, after mentioning Raw Milk LLC owner Mark McAfee on her podcast.
California, the nation’s largest dairy-producing state, has been battling a rapidly growing H5N1 outbreak in cows since late August. As of Friday, 402 flocks in the state had tested positive for bird flu. Nationally, 616 herds in 15 states are known to have been infected with the virus since the outbreak first discovered in late March.
While California has reported by far the most infected herds of any state, it is also the state that has been the most proactive in looking for the virus in cows and in people. The state has reported 29 human infections so far, including one last week in a child who had no known contact with infected cows or poultry.
The state is conducting weekly bulk tank testing on farms near or that share workers or equipment with the affected farms. Following the discovery of the virus in the Raw Farm product, the state Department of Food and Agriculture conducted testing at both of the company’s locations. The results were negative. But the public health department statement said testing of bulk tanks will now take place twice a week. The Los Angeles Times reported that McAfee, the owner of Raw Farm LLC, has allowed testing of its milk since late April.