The fowl flu virus was detected in a retail pattern of uncooked milk from a California-based dairy farm as circumstances proceed to rise throughout the state, well being officers introduced.
The contaminated pattern got here from Fresno-based Uncooked Farm, the most important producer and retailer of uncooked dairy in California. The contaminated pattern was detected by officers from the Santa Clara County public well being workplace, which has been testing uncooked milk already positioned in retail shops throughout the state “as a second line of consumer protection.”
Uncooked Farms has since issued a voluntary recall of all quart and half-gallon milk merchandise produced on Nov. 9. The merchandise are set to run out on Nov. 27 and have the lot ID #20241109.
No circumstances related to the Uncooked Farms merchandise have been reported but.
“This isn’t surprising, given how quickly H5N1 seems to be spreading among farms in California and given the fact that these outbreaks on farms are being discovered in large part due to bulk testing of raw milk from farms,” Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Middle at Brown College, informed the Los Angeles Occasions.
“What we don’t know is how much risk H5N1 poses to people that drink unpasteurized, infected milk.”
Solely the “H5” a part of the virus was detected within the collected pattern, however well being officers nonetheless consider that it’s nonetheless probably contaminated with H5N1. No H5 circumstances have been reported within the state and it hasn’t been recognized in any cows both.
Mark McAfee, proprietor of Uncooked Farm, informed the Los Angeles Occasions that that is the primary time any of his merchandise have examined constructive for the virus since he began enrolling in voluntary testing in April.
Nevertheless it’s not the primary time Uncooked Farm has by accident positioned contaminated merchandise available on the market. In February, the corporate needed to concern a recall of its uncooked cheddar cheese merchandise that had been linked to an E. coli outbreak throughout a number of states. The dairy firm was additionally tied to a salmonella outbreak in October 2023 that contaminated at the very least 165 folks.
Nuzzo informed the Los Angeles Occasions that findings from latest animal research point out that the fowl flu virus “could pose a risk if ingested in large enough quantities, but we have not yet seen human cases resulting from raw milk consumption. Given that ingestion of raw milk has no credible health benefits, I personally would avoid drinking it.”
Simply final week, a toddler was reported to have contracted the fowl flu – the primary youth case in California. Investigators nonetheless aren’t certain how he caught it, however have dominated out contact with contaminated dairy – together with uncooked milk – or poultry animals.
Thus far, the Golden State has seen 29 constructive circumstances, all in dairy employees aside from the kid. Solely 55 circumstances of fowl flu have been reported nationwide, with California making up about half of all circumstances.
The virus has additionally been detected in wastewater websites in Santa Clara County, together with Palo Alto, San Jose, Gilroy, and Sunnyvale.
It’s additionally been present in 24 of California’s 28 wastewater programs, in response to testing from WastewaterScan.
States throughout the nation have lately been legalizing uncooked milk merchandise. President-elect Donald Trump’s Well being and Human Companies nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has additionally indicated that he needs to extend the nation’s entry to and consumption of uncooked milk.
