Because of the bird flu virus, health officials in California have told people not to drink a second batch of raw milk.
A second sample of cream top, whole raw milk from Raw Farm LLC was found to have the bird flu virus, the California Department of Public Health said in a news release Wednesday.
At the request of the state, Fresno County-based Raw Farm voluntarily recalled the lot in question, which has the code 20241119 and a “best by” date of December 7.
Health officials said that no cases of illness linked to the product have been found.
“Customers should return any leftover goods right away to the store where they were bought,” “It is still safe to drink pasteurized milk,” the news release said.
The health department said on Sunday that bird flu was found in a lot that had a “best by” date of November 27. This week, Raw Farm put out a voluntary recall for that lot.
The Santa Clara County Public Health Laboratory found this second case of bird flu while checking raw milk products from stores in the county as a “second line of defense” for consumers.
Wednesday, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) went to Raw Farm’s milk processing plant to get “additional samples of stored bulk tank milk and bottled products.”
Pasteurization, a method that involves heating milk to a high temperature to kill germs and viruses, is not done on raw milk. Public health experts say that drinking raw milk can be very bad for your health, especially for people who are already weak. This is because it can make you more likely to get foodborne illnesses.
It was said in the release that eating raw dairy products has led to outbreaks of Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, toxin-producing E. coli, Brucella, Campylobacter, and many other bacteria.
The state has had 29 cases of bird flu in people since October. Of those, 28 had direct touch with infected dairy cows.
Neither in the state nor in the U.S. has there been any person-to-person spread of bird flu yet. In all of those cases, the symptoms were mild, mostly eye infections, and no one had to go to the hospital. As part of its plan to fight the bird flu, the state is regularly checking raw milk from dairies.
If you drink raw milk from an infected cow, splash raw milk from an infected cow into your eyes, nose, or mouth, or touch your eyes, nose, or mouth with dirty hands after touching raw milk from an infected cow, you could get bird flu.
“All of the cows at Raw Farm are healthy and do not show signs or symptoms of HPAI or Bird Flu,” Raw Farm said in a statement released Thursday. “Hundreds of herds in California have been affected by bird flu.”
“However, it’s possible that some cows in one of our herds shed no matter what.” “None of our cows are showing any symptoms or signs of being sick,” the statement said. “Raw Farm tests all of our milk every day in our pathogen lab to make sure our products are free of pathogens.”
Raw Farm said it isn’t “allowed to access or perform” testing for bird flu in its raw milk. Instead, the company works with partners at the CDFA and the state vet’s office.
It said, “We are working hard with all of our scientific contacts and technology to get through this process and get delicious, healthy, immune-boosting raw dairy products back to stores near you.”
In a separate statement, Raw Farm said that the CDFA “has put our herd under quarantine, and until the quarantine is lifted, all milk must be sold to be made safe.”
The CDFA says that bird flu has been found in 436 dairies across the state. Those farmers are in quarantine, but they will be let out once the farms are fully recovered. They will then be put on a list of farms that will be tested every week.
The CDFA said that the H5N1 bird flu started in chickens in 2022 and was first found in dairy cows in the U.S. in March 2024. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that infected animal herds have been seen in California and Utah.
