A California producer of unpasteurized uncooked milk, the most popular milk of Division of Health and Human Providers secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been compelled by the state to droop operations after officers discovered the chicken 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 “currently under quarantine, from herds to bottled product, which means that all raw milk product distribution is suspended,” Steve Lyle, director of public affairs for the California Division of Meals and Agriculture, mentioned in an announcement Monday.
The chicken flu virus, or H5N1, was present in samples collected late final month, Lyle mentioned.
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“CDFA dairy inspectors sampled milk from bottled products and bulk milk storage at Raw Farm’s bottling facility on Wednesday, Nov. 27, and laboratory test results made known on November 28 showed the presence of the bird flu virus,” he continued. “All milk tested by CDFA remained at the Raw Farm plant and was not released to consumers.”
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 Health Division detected chicken flu in them.
Regardless of these ongoing points, Uncooked Farm instructed 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 Raw Milk Policy and Standards Development.”
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Raw milk is milk that hasn’t been through the pasteurization process, which simply involves heating milk to a minimum temperature for a set amount of time in order to kill harmful bacteria and other pathogens that could sicken consumers with bird flu, E. coli, listeria and other serious diseases.
Though human circumstances of chicken flu are unusual, partially because of pasteurization, the viral an infection may be lethal, in response to the World Health Group. The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention explicitly advises individuals to not eat uncooked milk on account of its well being dangers.
Kennedy is a uncooked milk advocate who mentioned in October that the Meals and Drug Administration’s rules on unpasteurized milk quantity to “aggressive suppression” and a “war on public health.” The one main uncooked milk regulation from the FDA, which is below HHS, is an interstate gross sales ban.
In 2022, Kennedy said that for the past year he’d only consumed raw milk.
The FDA has thrown chilly 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 allergy symptoms, 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 a lot of the South and several other crimson states.
