Raw Farm, a dairy based in Fresno, California, voluntarily recalled most of its raw milk products for the second time in as many weeks on Dec. 3 after bird flu was discovered at its facilities.
All of Raw Farm’s milk and cream products, which do not undergo pasteurization to kill bacteria and viruses, were pulled off dairy cases by the company. Just one week earlier, bird flu was discovered in some of it’s products and were also recalled by the company.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture urged customers not to consume any Raw Farm products. No bird flu cases associated with those products have been reported. The company called the recall a “political issue” and said it is co-operating with government regulatory agencies.
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California is a hot spot for both dairy and poultry cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the state had recorded 27 infected commercial poultry operations and four backyard flocks in the 30 days prior to Dec. 5.
A further 269 cattle cases were found in the same window. All were detected on commercial dairy operations, APHIS data shows.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted more than 112 million poultry infected with bird flu since February 2022, as of Dec. 4, as well as 10,672 wild birds since January 2022. In total, 707 dairy herds were also affected by the virus and there have been 58 human cases in the country. No human deaths due to bird flu have been reported.
Global bird flu
New Zealand halted all poultry exports on Dec. 2 after the H7N6 strain of bird flu was discovered at an egg farm in the southern region of Otago the previous week. The virus had spread to two sheds on the same property, resulting in the cull of 80,000 chickens.
On Dec. 3, the country’s biosecurity department confirmed it was also investigating another egg farm in the same region.
The United Kingdom Health Security Agency announced Dec. 3 that it has secured five million doses of H5 bird flu vaccine for humans. Vaccines were already used last year for Finnish mink farmers.
As of Nov. 29, an estimated 12.95 million birds were infected with the H5N1 virus in Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said. There were also 74 infected premises at that time, with 64 in British Columbia, as well as 422 previously infected premises. One person in B.C. was also infected with bird flu. However, the strain found in U.S. dairy cattle has not been discovered in Canada.
