Bird flu reportedly prompts another raw milk recall

State agriculture officials Saturday announced a raw milk recall from Stanislaus County producer Valley Milk Simply Bottled, a news report said.

Officials found H5N1 bird flu in bulk milk tanks produced by the Modesto-based raw milk dairy, according to the news agency YubaNet.

The order applies to all Valley Milk Simply Bottled raw cow milk and Desi Milk raw cow milk distributed in quart, half-gallon and one-gallon plastic jugs with a code date of Dec. 23 through Dec. 30 marked on the container.

The Times could not immediately reach the California Department of Food and Agriculture to confirm the recall.

This is the second raw milk producer in California to have milk recalled in the last few weeks. In November, the state secured a voluntary recall of all milk and cream products from Fresno-based Raw Farm. A few days later, state officials suspended all Raw Farm sales of raw milk and cream.

There have been no confirmed H5N1 human outbreaks associated with any of the raw milk recalls.

One child in Marin County is suspected to have been infected after drinking recalled raw milk and becoming very ill. Initial tests suggested the child might have the bird flu, but confirmatory tests by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could not identify the virus.

Last week, two cats in Los Angeles County died after drinking recalled raw milk.

It is unclear where Valley Milk Simply Bottled products are sold and how much milk is involved in the recall.

Consumers are strongly urged to not consume any recalled product remaining in their refrigerators, and agriculture officials are asking retailers to pull the product immediately from their shelves.

Health officials say pasteurized dairy products are safe; the process inactivates the bird flu virus.

Since March, when H5N1 was first detected in dairy cows, 845 herds across 16 states have been infected, including 630 in California.

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