U.S. official: Avoid raw milk to reduce bird flu risk

[New Sancai Compilation First Release] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned on May 1 that people who drink unpasteurized raw milk are at risk of contracting avian influenza.

"We continue to strongly recommend against the consumption of raw milk," said Dr. Donald Prater, acting director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, according to the New York Times.

Nearly all milk sold in stores is pasteurized, a process the FDA says appears to kill the H5N1 bird flu virus.

"The FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) state that based on the information we currently have, our commercial milk supply is safe because of the pasteurization process and the fact that milk from sick cows is diverted or destroyed." An FDA statement on milk Safe Q&A website writes.

Federal officials continue to stress that, based on this and other data, the risk to the public from avian influenza is currently low.

But the agency added that raw milk and raw milk cheese may contain bacteria that pose serious health risks to consumers, including bird flu.

The FDA cited data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that showed that between 1998 and 2018, 202 outbreaks related to the consumption of raw milk had occurred, resulting in 2,645 illnesses and 228 hospitalizations.

Even in the best of times, raw milk "is one of the riskiest foods we have," Benjamin Chapman, a professor and food safety expert at North Carolina State University, told The Times.

Dr. Rosemary Seaford, deputy administrator for veterinary services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told a media briefing that testing found "high viral loads" in raw milk.

In addition, Sifford added, officials believe the primary way the avian influenza virus spreads between cows is through contact with milk.

It's unclear whether raw milk can spread bird flu to humans, but researchers are continuing to track that, Pratt said. "There's not a lot of research showing that this virus and raw dairy products are contagious," Platt said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed cases of avian influenza in dairy cows in nine states.

(Compiled by: Wang Jimin)

(Editor: Jiang Qiming)

(Source of the article: Compiled and published by New Sancai)