Frightened {that a} drink of contaminated uncooked milk might trigger the H5N1 chicken flu virus to leap to folks, state well being officers have ordered that every one uncooked milk and cream from a Fresno-based dairy farm be pulled from retailer cabinets.
Customers ought to return any bought milk to the shop the place it was purchased, they add.
“Californians are strongly encouraged not to consume any raw milk or cream products in their possession or still on store shelves,” the California Division of Public Well being stated in an announcement launched Monday night time. Milk that’s pasteurized, which kills the virus and different pathogens, stays protected to drink.
Milk merchandise from Uncooked Farm, the state’s main uncooked milk producer, examined optimistic for chicken flu at each retail and dairy storage and bottling websites in current days, officers stated.
It is a broader recall than what was introduced final week, following the invention of contaminated Uncooked Farm product at Santa Clara County retail shops from two particular tons of milk. The Santa Clara County Division of Public Well being stated it was unable to authorize the discharge of the names of the shops.
Because the illness investigation continues, Uncooked Farm is cooperating totally with CDPH and the California Division of Meals and Agriculture.
However Uncooked Meals CEO Mark McAfee — who stated he has been requested to use for a U.S. Meals and Drug Administration advisory place within the incoming Trump administration — known as the recall and quarantine “a political issue. There are no food safety issues with our products,” he wrote on the corporate’s web site.
“We are working towards resolving this political issue while being cooperative with our government regulatory agencies,” he wrote. “Our family business has faced many political challenges before and we are resilient.”
Nobody has been sickened by avian flu after ingesting uncooked milk merchandise from this dairy.
However it’s recognized that publicity to contaminated uncooked milk could cause sickness. Because the virus has swept by way of the state’s dairy trade, infecting 493 of the state’s 1,100 operators, an estimated 30 California dairy farm employees have develop into sick.
“Drinking or accidentally inhaling raw milk containing bird flu virus may lead to illness,” in response to CDPH. “In addition, touching your eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands after touching raw milk with bird flu virus may also lead to infection.”
Analysis printed within the New England Journal of Drugs exhibits that the virus can stay infectious in uncooked milk for at the very least a number of weeks when stored refrigerated at 39 levels Fahrenheit.
Cats consuming contaminated uncooked milk from the farms “bulk tanks” have develop into contaminated and died, in response to a report by the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. Subsequent autopsies have revealed extreme systemic virus an infection in these animals, affecting organs such because the mind and eyes, in response to Michael Payne of the Western Institute for Meals Security and Safety at UC Davis.
The virus spreads by way of aerosol particles and contaminated milking tools. Whereas most affected animals get better with supportive remedy, an estimated 10% to fifteen% of cows die, in response to Western United Dairies CEO Anja Raudabaugh. Many by no means return to their prior productiveness.
At present, the virus solely targets the cells of animals. However it’s only a mutation or two away from with the ability to goal the cells of individuals, virologists say. Because it spreads, there’s a larger probability {that a} mutation will emerge.
The virus appears to focus on the cells of a cow’s udder. This will likely clarify why youthful cows and beef cattle have been unaffected.
Following the CDPH investigation, Uncooked Farm is quarantined for greater than two months, that means that it isn’t allowed to maneuver any cattle off the property or promote any model of its uncooked milk merchandise.
McAfee is allowed to promote milk from his 1,800-cow dairy to a processor who will pasteurize it and use it in several merchandise, together with milk or cheese.
In line with CDFA guidelines, if there are not any extra sick cows inside 60 days, it should start testing the milk once more. Earlier than its milk might be launched, the dairy should take a look at destructive in three assessments, with seven days between assessments.
Uncooked milk is taken into account so unsafe that the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration prohibits interstate gross sales.
However particular person states nonetheless management uncooked milk gross sales inside their borders — and California is one among 12 states that permit its buy in retail shops.
Uncooked Farm has been linked to a plethora of different outbreaks of pathogens unrelated to the chicken flu virus, together with the micro organism Salmonella, E. coli and Campylobacter. In line with current litigation filed by Seattle-based lawyer Invoice Marler, victims of a Salmonella outbreak between September 2023 to March 2024 embrace at the very least six residents of Alameda County, 5 residents of Contra Costa County and 5 residents of Santa Clara County.
Reasonably than banning uncooked milk, California depends on promoting restrictions and warning labels to tell shoppers of danger.
If the state or federal authorities finds {that a} meals firm is egregious in its security or sanitation practices, stated UC Davis’s Payne, it might be compelled to stop operations till it implements packages that show it’s in compliance.
