A California producer of unpasteurized raw milk, the preference for milk of Department of Health and Human Services nominee Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been forced by the state to suspend operations after officials found the bird flu virus in its products.
All operations at Raw Farm — a Fresno-based producer of raw milk, cheese, pet food and other dairy products — are “currently under quarantine, from herds to bottled products, meaning all distribution of raw milk products has been suspended,” Steve Lyle, public affairs director for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said in a statement Monday.
The bird flu virus, or H5N1, was found in samples collected late last month, Lyle said.
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“CDFA dairy inspectors sampled milk from bottled products and bulk milk storage at the Raw Farm bottling plant on Wednesday, November 27, and laboratory test results announced on November 28 showed the presence of the avian flu virus,” he continued. “All milk tested by CDFA remained in the Raw Farm facility and was not released to consumers.”
State, provincial and federal officials all continue to investigate Raw Farm’s activities, Lyle said.
The suspension comes not long after Raw Farm voluntarily recalled two of its batches of raw milk after the Santa Clara County Public Health Department discovered bird flu in them.
Despite these ongoing problems, Raw Farm remains told CNN On Monday, Kennedy, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead HHS, asked the company’s CEO, Mark McAfee, to apply for the position of “FDA Advisor on Raw Milk Policy and Standards Development.”
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Raw milk is milk that has not undergone the pasteurization process, which simply involves heating milk to a minimum temperature for a certain period of time to kill harmful bacteria and other pathogens that can make consumers sick from bird flu, E. coli, listeria and other serious diseases.
Although cases of bird flu are rare in humans, the viral infection can be fatal, thanks in part to pasteurization. according to the World Health Organization. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explicitly advises people do not consume raw milk because of its health risks.
Kennedy is an advocate of raw milk said in October that the Food and Drug Administration’s regulations on unpasteurized milk amounted to “aggressive suppression” and a “war on public health.” The only major regulation for raw milk from the FDA, which falls under HHS, is an interstate sales ban.
In 2022, Kennedy said he had consumed only raw milk for the past year.
The FDA did that cold water thrown to claims about the benefits of raw milk touted by its proponents, saying there is no evidence that the bacteria in raw milk is beneficial for gastrointestinal health and that there is no evidence that it treats asthma or allergies , cures lactose intolerance, or works more effectively than pasteurized milk in preventing osteoporosis.
The sale of raw milk is banned in several countries, including Canada and Australia, and in several U.S. states, including abroad much of the South and several red states.