Summary
California health officials detected bird flu (H5N1) in a sample of raw milk from Raw Farm, prompting a recall.
While no illnesses have been linked to the milk, consumers are urged to avoid it. Pasteurized milk remains safe, as the process eliminates pathogens, including bird flu.
The FDA has long warned about raw milk risks, such as Salmonella and E. coli.
Despite the dangers, figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick for Health Secretary, continue to advocate for raw milk consumption.
The raw milk Americans are drinking is a commercial product??? As in like, you buy it at a store?? That is absolutely insane, no way that anything unpasteurized would keep well enough to go through that supply chain.
To get raw milk here in Germany, you literally walk to a local farm and get some from the tanks they fill up and ship out daily for commercial use. It’s never more than a day old, and you’re supposed to use it all up within a day or so.
Never have I seen raw milk in grocery stores for sale, this is something you have to go direct to farmers for as far as I know. Every supermarket I go to only has pasteurized milk.
Edit: while I’ve never seen raw milk at chain grocery stores, it seems in some areas raw milk is indeed sold at retail locations. I wouldn’t be surprised if it varied by state or municipality.
It is illegal to sell raw milk in my state.
Yet real Swiss cheese like proper Gruyere is forbidden in the US because it’s made from raw milk.