A California producer of unpasteurized uncooked milk, the preferred milk of Division of Well being and Human Providers secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been pressured by the state to droop operations after officers discovered the chook flu virus in its merchandise.
All operations at Uncooked Farm ― a Fresno-based producer of uncooked milk, cheeses, pet meals and different dairy merchandise ― are “presently underneath quarantine, from herds to bottled product, which implies that all uncooked milk product distribution is suspended,” Steve Lyle, director of public affairs for the California Division of Meals and Agriculture, mentioned in a press release Monday.
The chook flu virus, or H5N1, was present in samples collected late final month, Lyle mentioned.
PATRICK T. FALLON by way of Getty Photos
“CDFA dairy inspectors sampled milk from bottled merchandise and bulk milk storage at Uncooked Farm’s bottling facility on Wednesday, Nov. 27, and laboratory take a look at outcomes made identified on November 28 confirmed the presence of the chook flu virus,” he continued. “All milk examined by CDFA remained on the Uncooked Farm plant and was not launched to customers.”
State, county and federal officers are all persevering with to research Uncooked Farm’s operations, Lyle mentioned.
The suspension comes not lengthy after Uncooked Farm voluntarily recalled two of its uncooked milk batches after the Santa Clara County Public Well being Division detected chook flu in them.
Regardless of these ongoing points, Uncooked Farm told CNN on Monday that Kennedy, President-elect Donald Trump’s decide to guide HHS, has requested the corporate’s CEO, Mark McAfee, to use for the place of “FDA advisor on Uncooked Milk Coverage and Requirements Improvement.”
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Uncooked milk is milk that hasn’t been by the pasteurization course of, which merely entails heating milk to a minimal temperature for a set period of time as a way to kill dangerous micro organism and different pathogens that would sicken customers with chook flu, E. coli, listeria and different severe illnesses.
Though human instances of chook flu are unusual, partly due to pasteurization, the viral an infection will be lethal, according to the World Health Organization. The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention explicitly advises individuals not to consume raw milk attributable to its well being dangers.
Kennedy is a uncooked milk advocate who said in October that the Meals and Drug Administration’s rules on unpasteurized milk quantity to “aggressive suppression” and a “struggle on public well being.” The one main uncooked milk regulation from the FDA, which is underneath HHS, is an interstate gross sales ban.
In 2022, Kennedy mentioned that for the previous 12 months he’d solely consumed uncooked milk.
The FDA has thrown cold water on claims about the advantages of uncooked milk touted by its advocates, saying there’s no proof that any of the micro organism in uncooked milk is helpful for gastrointestinal well being and that there’s no proof it treats bronchial asthma or allergic reactions, cures lactose intolerance, or works extra successfully than pasteurized milk at heading off osteoporosis.
The sale of uncooked milk is outlawed in a number of nations, together with Canada and Australia, and in a number of U.S. states, together with throughout much of the South and several red states.
