Sales of raw cow’s milk are surging because health influencers think it’ll protect them against bird flu

Sales of raw milk are surging in the US despite health officials warning it could lead to people becoming infected with bird flu. 

Market sales data shows 65 percent more raw milk was bought in the US last week compared to the same period last year.

The CDC issued an official warning last month telling people not to consume raw milk because it had not been pasteurized, a process where milk is heated and then quickly cooled to kill microbes.

But the alarm appears to have had the opposite effect, with sales jumping 21 percent compared to the previous seven-day period. One farm in California says it can barely keep raw milk on its shelves it has become so popular.

Influencers urging people to drink raw milk include William Trebing from South Carolina, who also claims to be a chiropractor, who wrote online: ‘[Raw milk is] the perfect solution for PREVENTING “Bird Flu”.

‘It is actually an immune stimulant to prevent many types of “colds/flus”. It is actually one of the best things you can eat, filled with healing nutrition.’

Mark McAfee, a farmer who sells raw milk in Fresno, California, added that he was receiving calls from people asking for raw milk actually infected with the virus.

‘Some people in the raw milk community think that ingesting infected milk will help build a robust immune system,’ he told The Telegraph. 

There are multiple posts on social media on how raw milk can boost the immune system, including one from glowwithella — who has more than 355,000 followers — where she says: ‘[Raw milk] is necessary to rebuild the gut barrier, which keep all those bad bugs, toxins and pathogens out.’

Raw milk is milk that has come straight from the udder of a cow and has not gone through the pasteurization process.

As a result, it is far more likely to cause illnesses and hospitalizations linked to dangerous bacteria such as campylobacter, listeria, salmonella and E.coli. 

This differs from milk in grocery stores, which has been heated to 161F (71C) and then cooled rapidly in order to kill any microbes lurking in it.

The CDC says raw milk is ‘one of the riskiest’ foods that can be consumed.

Before pasteurization began in 1924, 25 percent of food outbreaks were linked to milk, official figures show. For comparison, today it is less than one percent.

Nonetheless, a plethora of individuals — from gym hunks to housewives and teenagers — have posted videos online urging people to try raw milk.

Dr Donald Schaffner, a food science professor at Rutgers University, said he was left ‘simply shaking my head’ after hearing people were still consuming raw milk.

Alex O’Brien, a safety coordinator at the Center for Dairy Research, added: ‘I liken drinking raw milk to playing Russian roulette.’

Scientists are concerned that if someone drinks raw milk that contains ‘live’ bird flu they could become infected with the virus, and potentially lead to the disease gaining new mutations to allow it to spread between people.

CDC officials say this is a theoretical possibility should the bird flu virus come into contact with receptors in the nose, mouth and throat of a human or if it is accidentally inhaled into the lungs. 

They point to cases on farms where cats have drunk milk from infected cows, and then become infected and died from the disease.

But there are no recorded cases of humans catching bird flu from milk to date, although the disease is only believed to have spilled into cows earlier this year.

Mr McAfee, from Raw Farm USA, added that people were rushing in to buy the milk ‘like crazy’ following the warnings.

‘Anything that the FDA tells customers to do, they do the opposite,’ he added.

Bonni Gilley, 75, also from Fresno, who has raised several generations of her family on raw milk, added that the warnings had encouraged her to buy more of the milk.

A total of 46 farms across nine states have so far reported bird flu in their dairy herds, although it is feared others could be infected.

Only one person has tested positive for the disease linked to this outbreak — a farmer in Texas — but officials fear others could be infected.  

About 4.4 percent of adults in the US — or nearly 11million people — drink raw milk, according to experts despite the risks.

There are a number of videos online urging people to drink the milk from influencers, including a holistic physician known as ‘Carnivore MD’. 

States have varying regulations on raw milk, with only a few allowing retail sales in stores and others allowing sales only at farms.