Health officials in California have discovered bird flu virus in raw milk for sale in a store in the state, a development scientists following the ongoing outbreak of bird flu in dairy cows have been anticipating and worrying about for some time.
While the human health implications of drinking H5N1-laced milk are unknown, scientists who study the virus have been fearful of what consuming milk containing the virus could do. Milk that comes directly from infected cows contains extremely high levels of virus. In laboratory studies, raw milk consumption triggers severe disease in some animal models. And there have been multiple 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 producer from Fresno County, had voluntarily recalled a batch of a product called cream top whole raw milk, at the state’s request. The lot, labeled with the code 20241109, had a “best by” date of Nov. 27.
The product containing the virus was purchased by the County of Santa Clara’s Public Health Department, which has been testing commercial raw milk for the virus, on Nov. 21. The county said the milk contained H5 virus, suggesting its laboratory had not yet completed testing to indicate the N number of the virus. Given how prevalent H5N1 virus is in California, however, it is highly likely that 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 press 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 would be found in commercially sold raw milk.
“I think the most important message here is this is not a surprise,” said Osterholm, who was formerly Minnesota’s state epidemiologist, a job where he investigated multiple disease outbreaks linked back to raw milk consumption.
He said it isn’t yet clear what the risk will be for anyone 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] from oral ingestion of milk. We don’t know how that plays in humans,” he said.
“It’s not a good thing. We surely don’t want to have it happen. But we also have to acknowledge 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, disclosing in 2023 that it is the only milk he drinks. He has criticized the Food and Drug Administration — which will be part of his ambit, should he be confirmed as HHS secretary — for its “aggressive suppression” of raw milk and other things he contends would contribute to a healthier America.
Nicole Shanahan, who was Kennedy’s running mate in his aborted presidential bid, also promotes the consumption of raw milk, having featured the owner of Raw Milk LLC, Mark McAfee, on her podcast.
California, the country’s biggest dairy producing state, has been battling a rapidly expanding H5N1 outbreak in cows since late August. As of Friday, 402 herds 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 was first detected in late March.
While it has reported by far the most infected herds of any state, California is also the state that has been 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 has been doing weekly bulk tank testing on farms in the vicinity of, or which share workers or equipment with affected farms. Following the discovery of the virus in the Raw Farm product, the state’s Department of Food and Agriculture tested at both of the company’s locations. Results were negative. But the public health department’s statement said testing of bulk tanks will now be done twice a week. The Los Angeles Times reported that McAfee, the owner of Raw Farm LLC, has allowed testing of his milk since late April.