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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 hen 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 beneath 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, stated in an announcement Monday.
The hen flu virus, or H5N1, was present in samples collected late final month, Lyle stated.
PATRICK T. FALLON through Getty Pictures
“CDFA dairy inspectors sampled milk from bottled merchandise and bulk milk storage at Uncooked Farm’s bottling facility on Wednesday, Nov. 27, and laboratory check outcomes made recognized on November 28 confirmed the presence of the hen flu virus,” he continued. “All milk examined by CDFA remained on the Uncooked Farm plant and was not launched to shoppers.”
State, county and federal officers are all persevering with to research Uncooked Farm’s operations, Lyle stated.
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 hen flu in them.
Regardless of these ongoing points, Uncooked Farm told CNN on Monday that Kennedy, President-elect Donald Trump’s choose to steer HHS, has requested the corporate’s CEO, Mark McAfee, to use for the place of “FDA advisor on Uncooked Milk Coverage and Requirements Improvement.”
Jeff Bottari through Getty Pictures
Uncooked milk is milk that hasn’t been by the pasteurization course of, which merely includes heating milk to a minimal temperature for a set period of time with a view to kill dangerous micro organism and different pathogens that would sicken shoppers with hen flu, E. coli, listeria and different critical illnesses.
Though human circumstances of hen flu are unusual, partially because of pasteurization, the viral an infection could be lethal, according to the World Health Organization. The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention explicitly advises individuals not to consume raw milk resulting from its well being dangers.
Kennedy is a uncooked milk advocate who said in October that the Meals and Drug Administration’s laws 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 beneath HHS, is an interstate gross sales ban.
In 2022, Kennedy stated 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 warding off osteoporosis.
The sale of uncooked milk is outlawed in a number of international locations, together with Canada and Australia, and in a number of U.S. states, together with throughout much of the South and several red states.
