Bird flu has been identified in a shipment of whole raw milk sold by Raw Farm in Fresno county, California, prompting the company to issue a recall of the affected batch. The discovery was made through testing, resulting in the milk being pulled from shelves with a "best by date" of Nov. 27 following the California Department of Public Health's advisory.
The California Department of Public Health urged consumers to avoid consuming the contaminated raw milk as a precautionary measure given the ongoing spread of bird flu in dairy cows, poultry, and sporadic human cases. California has already recorded 29 confirmed cases of bird flu, primarily linked to contact with infected dairy cows, with no instances of human-to-human transmission reported in the state or the nation, as per public health officials.
In response to the escalating concerns surrounding the potential spread of bird flu, the U.S. government has ramped up its efforts to develop a repository of vaccines for the disease. Moderna, leveraging its mRNA technology used in the COVID-19 vaccine, secured a $176 million contract in July to advance its bird flu vaccine development, while other companies like GSK, Sanofi, and CSL Limited received a $72 million grant to boost the U.S. supply of bird flu vaccines. The CDC has reported a total of 55 cases in the 2024 bird flu outbreak in the U.S., emphasizing that the current public health risk remains minimal and that monitoring efforts are in place to track individuals with animal exposures.