Raw milk sales are spiking in the U.S. despite bird flu warnings

Amid a bird flu outbreak in the United States an unexpected trend emerges: sales of the unpasteurized products seem to be on the rise.

Amid a bird flu outbreak in the United States and official warnings to avoid raw milk due to the potential for contamination, an unexpected trend emerges: sales of unpasteurized products seem to be on the rise.

Since March 25, when the bird flu virus was confirmed in U.S. dairy cattle for the first time, weekly sales of raw cow’s milk have risen compared with the same periods a year ago, according to the Associated Press.

“Right now our sales are up, we can’t keep it in stock” Mark McAfee, owner of Raw Farm USA in Fresno, Calif., told Global News. “We’re in 550 stores right now and raw milk sales have never been higher and were sold out all the time.”

The sale of raw milk is legal in California and a handful of other states, and McAfee said sales have recently surged driven by a growing belief in its “natural immune system properties.”

However, Jason Tetro, a microbiologist based in Edmonton and specialist in emerging pathogens, warned that raw milk does not have any specific helpful immune properties.

“Whether it is raw milk or pasteurized milk… at the end of the day, it’s coming from a cow. Human breast milk comes from humans, cow milk comes from cows. And while there may be some similarities in the antibody structure, it’s not going to help you out,” he explained.

He added that he is not too shocked to see that people are buying more raw milk in the U.S. in the wake of the bird flu outbreak, as the public health community “always sees this whenever we have a problem with raw milk and some kind of pathogen.”

While raw milk sales are on the rise in the U.S., it’s a different story in Canada. Selling unpasteurized milk is illegal nationwide. In Canada, all milk must undergo pasteurization before it can be sold, according to Health Canada.