Raw milk and bird flu: what the laboratory checks actually show
- Claim
- RAW MILK BIRD FLU?
- Catch
- RAW IS A GAMBLE
- Verdict
- HEAT WINS,
Raw milk is marketed as immune-boosting while H5N1 bird flu spread through US dairy herds in 2024. What did the checks find? FDA surveillance detected H5N1 genetic material in about one in five retail milk samples from the USA — in pasteurized milk — which triggered the pasteurization tests. In a Canadian Food Inspection Agency / Health Canada study (Food Microbiology, 2025), investigators spiked raw whole milk with live clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 virus (6.3 log10 EID50). Complete inactivation occurred at 63°C for 30 minutes, and at 72°C for 15 seconds in 7 of 8 replicates, with the remaining replicate showing a 4.44 log10 reduction — about one log above average bulk-milk viral loads in affected areas. Conclusion: pasteurization is an effective barrier. The retail-sample hits were viral fragments, not infectious virus, and no infective H5N1 has been recovered from pasteurized retail milk.
The catch: these surveillance snapshots cannot guarantee every carton, and raw milk from an infected herd can carry live virus with no visible sign. US FDA and CDC guidance remains: choose pasteurized milk while H5N1 is circulating in dairy herds; raw-milk fans should know the evidence is on the heat, not the hype.
SOURCES
- Alkie TN, Nasheri N, Romero-Barrios P, et al. "Effectiveness of pasteurization for the inactivation of H5N1 influenza virus in raw whole milk." Food Microbiol. 2025 Jan;125:104653. DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2024.104653. PMID: 39448163.
- Cui P, Zhuang Y, Zhang Y, et al. "Does pasteurization inactivate bird flu virus in milk?" Emerg Microbes Infect. 2024 Dec;13(1):2364732. DOI: 10.1080/22221751.2024.2364732. PMID: 38832658.
Information, not medical advice — follow your local public-health guidance on raw dairy during H5N1.
For information only, not medical advice. Talk to a qualified health professional before changing your diet, supplements or treatment.
