Bird Flu Found in Raw Milk in Stores

California health authorities have detected bird flu in raw milk sold in stores and issued a recall, reports the Visalia Times Delta. No illnesses have been linked to the batch sold by Raw Farm of Fresno County. (This state news release covers the particulars of the affected batch.) The development comes amid rising concern over the virus, which has infected 55 people in the US so far this year, per the Washington Post—including the first-ever case of a child. However, it's not actually clear if a human could contract bird flu from drinking milk tainted by the H5N1 virus, notes STAT News. However, the outlet notes reports of dead cats found on farms with infected cows.

"We don't know what oral consumption of milk will do," Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy, tells STAT. "Some people have extrapolated from the fact that … cats have [become infected] from oral ingestion of milk. We don't know how that plays in humans." He adds that he's not surprised it has turned up in commercially sold raw, or unpasteurized, milk. The pasteurizing process kills the virus.

The release from the California Department of Health warns that raw milk exposes people to a number of foodborne illnesses. Expect the issue to remain in the spotlight because Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—chosen by President-elect Trump to run the Department of Health and Human Services—is an advocate of raw milk and wants to boost access to it, notes the AP. Gwyneth Paltrow also is a public booster of it. (More bird flu stories.)