Commonground
Senior Moderator
[bolding is mine]
h/t Treyfish
Fri, November 29, 2024 at 2:10 PM EST
State agriculture officials on Thursday banned Fresno-based Raw Farm from distributing its raw dairy products to retailers amid ongoing concerns about possible bird flu infections among its cattle.
However, with the exception of two limited recalls announced in the last few days, products from the farm that are already on store shelves can remain available for sale.
The ban on distribution was issued as a clearer picture emerged regarding whether H5N1, the virus that causes bird flu, had infected cows at Raw Farm. After several days of contradictory test results, in which county public health departments found positive samples in bottled raw milk on store shelves and state agriculture officials did not detect the virus in bulk milk tests, Raw Farm owner Mark McAfee said a new round of tests conducted at the farm Wednesday turned up positive.
The decision to halt distribution of the raw milk added to growing concern among public health experts about the virus.
"The fact that H5N1 continues to spread unabated and then surprising us by infecting milk and people in places we don’t expect is bad," said Jennifer Nuzzo, a professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health. "It stokes my concerns that we are giving this virus a runway to launch a pandemic."
On Thursday, California's agriculture department reached out to McAfee and instructed him to suspend all new sales to retailers. McAfee said he is allowed to sell and distribute cheese that was produced before the state ordered a quarantine on his herds Thursday.
"When raw milk disappears from the stores, that will be it," he said.
According to McAfee, neither the agriculture department nor health department has recalled any products other than those involved in two limited recalls made in the last week involving quarter-gallon "cream top" whole milk products.
McAfee said until the tests this week by agriculture department officials found the virus, he had not been aware his cows had the disease because "they do not show the classic signs or symptoms. They are mostly all asymptomatic."
Now, he said, "Obviously, we have some asymptomatic shedders at very low levels."
He said two or three of his 1,800 cows had spiked a virus on Oct. 10, but he said they did not test positive for the virus. He said he removed those cows from the herd.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sales-raw-farms-products-suspended-191012661.html
h/t Treyfish
Fri, November 29, 2024 at 2:10 PM EST
State agriculture officials on Thursday banned Fresno-based Raw Farm from distributing its raw dairy products to retailers amid ongoing concerns about possible bird flu infections among its cattle.
However, with the exception of two limited recalls announced in the last few days, products from the farm that are already on store shelves can remain available for sale.
The ban on distribution was issued as a clearer picture emerged regarding whether H5N1, the virus that causes bird flu, had infected cows at Raw Farm. After several days of contradictory test results, in which county public health departments found positive samples in bottled raw milk on store shelves and state agriculture officials did not detect the virus in bulk milk tests, Raw Farm owner Mark McAfee said a new round of tests conducted at the farm Wednesday turned up positive.
The decision to halt distribution of the raw milk added to growing concern among public health experts about the virus.
"The fact that H5N1 continues to spread unabated and then surprising us by infecting milk and people in places we don’t expect is bad," said Jennifer Nuzzo, a professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health. "It stokes my concerns that we are giving this virus a runway to launch a pandemic."
On Thursday, California's agriculture department reached out to McAfee and instructed him to suspend all new sales to retailers. McAfee said he is allowed to sell and distribute cheese that was produced before the state ordered a quarantine on his herds Thursday.
"When raw milk disappears from the stores, that will be it," he said.
According to McAfee, neither the agriculture department nor health department has recalled any products other than those involved in two limited recalls made in the last week involving quarter-gallon "cream top" whole milk products.
McAfee said until the tests this week by agriculture department officials found the virus, he had not been aware his cows had the disease because "they do not show the classic signs or symptoms. They are mostly all asymptomatic."
Now, he said, "Obviously, we have some asymptomatic shedders at very low levels."
He said two or three of his 1,800 cows had spiked a virus on Oct. 10, but he said they did not test positive for the virus. He said he removed those cows from the herd.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sales-raw-farms-products-suspended-191012661.html
