A California raw milk farm has issued a recall after state health officials detected bird flu in retail samples.
The California Department of Public Health has instructed consumers to avoid consuming a single batch of cream top, whole raw milk produced by Raw Farm, LLC. While no illnesses have been reported, retailers have been instructed to pull affected products from their shelves.
“Public health experts have long warned consumers against consuming raw milk or raw milk products due to elevated risks of foodborne illness," California health officials said in a press release. "Raw milk products are not pasteurized, a heating process that kills bacteria and viruses such as bird flu.”
State health officials said they requested the recall due to "the ongoing spread of bird flu in dairy cows, poultry, and sporadic human cases." Follow-up testing did not find positive traces of the virus at the Fresno-based dairy's two locations.
Kaleigh Stanziani, Raw Farm vice president of marketing, said in a social media update to customers that the company "is not making a big deal" out of the recall, saying they regularly receive negative tests from California regulators and that there's been "no concern" with consuming their product.
"None of our supply has halted, changed or been paused," she said in an Instagram post. "We are not going to be adjusting any of our routes, everything is good to go, just as normal. Please do not have any worry or fear."
The California Department of Food and Agriculture will begin testing raw milk bulk tanks twice a week, up from weekly. The finding comes days after a child in California's Bay Area was confirmed to have bird flu despite having no contact with an infected animal.
The U.S. has reported 55 human cases of bird flu since the virus jumped to dairy cows earlier this year. California has reported 29 confirmed human cases of bird flu, the most of any state.
Pasteurized milk remains safe to drink, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While it remains unclear if people can get bird flu through consumption of raw dairy, unpublished studies on mice indicate a risk of infection from drinking contaminated milk.
In 2023, Raw Farm was linked to a salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 165 people, many of them children.
New Jersey is the only state with a complete ban on raw milk sales, according to the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund. Around 4.4% of U.S. adults reported consuming raw milk at least once in the past 12 months, studies show, and the practice has been endorsed by prominent figures including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President-elect Donald Trump's choice for health secretary.
As the virus continues to spread through dairy herds, federal health officials say farmworkers who have contact with infected animals remain most at risk. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently moved to ramp up bulk milk testing at the regional level to better identify where bird flu is present. The plan includes additional testing at individual farms if necessary until herds are "determined to be free of the virus."
The USDA is urging dairies to maintain biosecurity practices even if the virus has not been detected in their area. Bird flu can be spread through equipment, people, or other items that move between farms.
"USDA continues to emphasize to farmers nationwide that biosecurity is the best weapon against the spread of H5N1," the department said in a statement last month.
