USDA Orders Testing of Raw and Unpasteurized Milk for Presence of Bird Flu Virus
Yet, No one has yet been known to become ill with this virus from drinking raw.
In our most recent reports on the “bird flu,” California has become the new epicenter for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), as several of the state’s dairy workers at herds impacted by the pathogen became infected.
The symptoms of infection in all these cases were mild and included the “pink eye” associated with this strain of influenza when infection occurs in humans.
Recently, the state’s public health officials reported that a child has tested positive for the virus.
Clearly, it is going to be difficult to eliminate this virus. However, our government still insists on trying to chase every microbe despite its relatively mild effects on humans and cattle.
Now the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has ordered nationwide testing of the milk supply for bird flu (H5N1) to monitor the spread of the virus in dairy cows. This new federal order requires raw or unpasteurized milk from dairy farms and processors nationwide to be tested upon request starting December 16.
Farmers and dairy processors will be required to provide samples of raw milk on request from the government. And farm owners with infected herds will be required to provide details that would help officials identify more cases and contacts.
The rules were first floated in October and were supposed to be implemented in November. The first round of testing is now scheduled to begin the week of Dec. 16, according to the announcement on Friday.
The new strategy is a departure from the voluntary guidance that the department had issued during the outbreak. Many dairy farms have not complied with voluntary testing of milk or of dairy workers, leaving federal officials in the dark about how widely the virus might have spread.
“I have been absolutely frustrated that we do not know the extent of the outbreak in cattle,” Seema Lakdawala, a virologist at Emory University, said.
While “experts” may be happy with this move, earlier this year, I noted that many dairy farmers and cattle ranchers were disinclined to participate in testing, essentially “quiet quitting” the pandemic response.
State animal and human health experts in three states who work closely with veterinarians and farmers said the government tally is likely an undercount because farmers are fearful of the economic hardship brought by a positive test, including being restricted from selling their milk or cattle for weeks.
And some have begun noticing some of the issues related to the reporting on this issue.
Buried deep in the NYT article “U.S. Milk to Be Tested for Bird Flu Virus“ are 2 facts that reveal this is a scamdemic:
“No one has yet been known to become ill from drinking raw milk,”
“The virus has now been detected in 720 herds in 15 states”https://t.co/ZqNL31holL
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 6, 2024
Bird flu is pink eye!! That's it!! No one, not animal, human or bird has actually died from it! It's PINK EYE!! however, Rolly Polly @jaredpolis had 1.8 million chickens in Colorado murdered over it… right before he made it illegal to sell eggs that aren't cage free.
— cindi c (@cindicheever) December 6, 2024
It turns out that this move comes after a California dairy farm said it was expanding its recall of raw milk and cream after state health officials discovered bird flu virus in its milk samples.
Meanwhile, California health officials took additional steps to keep consumers safe, including quarantining the farm.
“While this voluntary recall only applies to raw whole milk and cream, due to multiple bird flu detections in the company’s operation, the California Department of Public Health [CDPH] urges consumers to avoid consuming any Raw Farm products for human consumption including raw milk, cream, cheese,and kefir, as well as raw milk pet food topper and pet food kefir marketed to pet owners,” the CDPH said in a health alert posted Tuesday.
“In addition to the statewide voluntary recall, CDFA [California Department of Agriculture] has placed the farm under quarantine, suspending any new distribution of its raw milk, cream, kefir, butter and cheese products produced on or after November 27,” the agency added.
This strain of bird flu has been around for since 2022. So far, only 57 people in this country have contracted an infection resulting in mild cases.
Surely, there must be a better use of agricultural and government resources than targeting small farms producing raw milk products.
It will be interesting to see if there are any changes in priorities after Jan 20th. I sure hope the new team has a better sense of public health risk assessment.
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Comments
What better way to explain the need for pasteurization than show why it’s necessary? Heating it to 145 degF for 30 minutes or 161 degF for 15 seconds kills germs, not only influenza but others too.
So much for the “raw milk is good for you” idea.
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we have those in our family who cannot tolerate pasteurized milk. in diapers this was VERY evident. But have no problems at all with raw milk. YMMV
My family has a history of inability to tolerate lactose in cows milk and I’ve developed the same problem as I got older. My father had the problem from birth and needed goats milk when he was an infant. Could lactase enzyme, Lactaid as well as generic, help? It breaks down the natural lactose so dairy products can be enjoyed.
Not sure why the down votes. Pasteurization has been practiced since the mid-nineteenth century and has been established as an effective way to keep diseases from spreading from dairy products. (Seventh grade science class.)
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the downvotes are probably for the lack of choice/absolute certainty “that one must only have pasteurized dairy” that comes across in your comment.
and as for the other, why pay for enzymes that are chemically made so that we can digest the milk when fresh clean milk will do the same without the added cost and annoyance?
plus, our raw milk always has at least 12% cream, sometimes more. so yummy!
Also, fermentation of the milk can help with lactose intolerance. It reduces the lactose that is indigestible.
Pasteurization was originally introduced to combat TB, which was a serious human killer and readily transmitted from infected cows. In the case of tuberculosis, and to a lesser extent brucellosis (now controlled by vaccination), it is a life saver.
(Other pathogens that pasteurization takes care, like e. coli and listeria, of are sanitation related and controlled by good handling and cleaning practices in the raw milk dairy.)
Nowadays, TB is virtually non-existent in the native American population and isn’t even on the radar of public health issues.
No more should bird flu be. It is so insignificant that its clear the attention put on it by public health officials and media is meant to propagandize, not protect or inform. Until they bio-engineer a better bug, they are desperate to use bird flu as another scamdemic.
Has anyone see Peter Daszak lately?
Consumers should always have options. If you want pasteurized products but your neighbor doesn’t then the solution isn’t do gov’t to either mandate or prohibit pasteurization but to allow consumer choice in a truly free market; aka individual liberty.
With plenty of First Amendment applied so the people have information to make that choice as they see fit.
Nothing wrong with properly handled raw milk. There is, however, something wrong with government making things illegal because someone else decided they should not have the freedom to make a personal choice.
Interesting that several years back the USDA mandated Amish farmers in far Northern NY stop selling their unpasteurized milk to – wait for it – commercial cheesemakers. And now the USDA acquiesces to drinking raw milk (though under protest I’m sure). I remember the raw milk we bought from the farm decades ago in OK, bring your own gallon glass jug – $0.50 per gallon. And the milkman bringing non-homogenized milk when I was young (guess “milkman” was sort of a giveaway as to how long ago).
The grandfather for whom I was named was a milkman for a while. (And one of his son-in-laws ran a dairy farm for the longest time.
This isn’t about health. They want an excuse, any at all, to use a pandemic scare to reinstitute covid-era restrictions if possible, and intentionally damage our food supply. The latter goes unremarked in our media. The ridiculously aggressive mass destruction of cattle and fowl is keeping food prices high.
Not entirely true.
These people are also Safetyists. They do not believe in risk management. Being Progressives, they believe all risk can be eliminated.
Yes, some are using that doctrine to try and give us another panic.
OmG kiLlEr BugZ arE gOinG 2 geT uS AlL unLesS thE gOverNmEnT saVeS uS !11!!1!
Just in time for the start of Trump’s 2d term!
Fun fact: Many foods, such as sauerkraut, bleu cheese, yogurt, and natto, rely on bacteria for the fermentation process.
Fun fact 2: Your gut relies on bacteria as part of digestion and health.
Stop the insane war on “germs.” Not everything needs to be in a sterile environment.
It’s the 0.1% of germs the antibacterial cleaner doesn’t kill that should be worried about. Seeing as how all their competition just got suddenly eliminated.
C. diff
It’s also (not coincidentally) a war on any food that is traditional or nutritious.
Great, another excuse for govt experts to assist in driving out small scale food producers. Another opportunity to put a nail in the coffin for small farms and ranchers.
Big corporations and big government like working with each other. Easier for bureaucracy to regulate a few huge entities than hundreds or thousands of smaller entities. Far easier for huge companies to comply with ticky tac regulations to Nth power b/c their budget/revenues built by near monopoly market share can afford to do so. Ditto for both public and private union bosses, easier to negotiate with a handful of employers than hundreds or thousands.
from drinking raw.
Leslie, is this a new, disturbing trend of which I’m unaware, or are you missing the noun which ‘raw’ modifies? Given the recent talk about the … expansive use of “rawdogging” I’m going to say “drinking raw” needs a PHRASING! tag.
But, on topic, I’m going to ask if this means they’ll now also examine the milk of dairy cows fed that extreme form of Gas-X? What’s extra or missing in that milk?
The dairy cattle strain seems to be mild in humans, but has killed many farm cats who have drunk raw milk.