Should You Stop Eating Eggs, Chicken, and Milk Because of Bird Flu?

The bird flu outbreak continues to expand to more farm animals, raising concerns about the safety of consuming animal products like milk and eggs.

Fortunately, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it hasn’t found any live, infectious virus in commercial foods. However, it has detected virus fragments in pasteurized milk, sour cream, and cottage cheese. 

While federal authorities stress that the chance of someone contracting bird flu via food products is low, specific choices, such as opting for unpasteurized milk, may raise that risk.

Experts say it’s highly unlikely that someone would contract bird flu by eating contaminated food. 

The current position is that H5N1 “is not a food safety concern, and the risk of its transmission to humans remains low,” Elaine Vanier, DVM, the animal welfare and animal feed program lead at NSF International, told Health.

S. Wesley Long, MD, PhD, the medical director of diagnostic microbiology at Houston Methodist, said the food industry has safeguards to ensure that poultry infected with the bird flu are not sold on the market. 

“Because it is so contagious and commercially devastating for commercial poultry when an infected bird is detected, entire flocks have to be destroyed,” Long said. “This poultry is not sold.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has also mandated that dairy cows test negative for Influenza A at an accredited laboratory before being shipped across state lines. 

Even if the virus did make its way into your eggs or beef, Long said that “normal cooking temperature,” or heating the foods to at least 165 degrees, “would destroy the virus as well as disease-causing bacteria that are far more common, like Salmonella.”

Why Is There an Egg Shortage?

While eggs are unlikely to make you sick, a more pressing issue is that it’s harder to buy them in the first place. Because farmers are being forced to cull poultry that have been infected with or exposed to bird flu, there’s a shortage of egg-laying hens. In some areas, that means a scarcity of eggs.

That shortage has forced the cost of eggs up. According to the Consumer Price Index, the average cost of a dozen large grade A eggs has jumped from $2.52 in January 2024 to $4.95 today.

Despite finding dead particles of noninfectious influenza virus fragments in commercial pasteurized milk, sour cream, and cottage cheese, the FDA has reassured the public that the milk supply is safe. 

There’s no reason to believe that there’s any live virus in milk that’s been pasteurized, which means it’s undergone a heating process to kill potential pathogens, said Richard J. Webby, PhD, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds.

“The data that has been generated to date shows that the virus, luckily, does not survive pasteurization,” Webby said. “We have tested pasteurized milk and have not found any live virus. So pasteurized milk is safe.“

However, experts advise against drinking unpasteurized milk, also called raw milk, as well as products containing it. 

“Consuming raw unpasteurized milk in the U.S. right now is definitely risky,” Webby said. “We know there is H5 virus in the milk of infected cows.” 

In addition to avoiding unpasteurized milk and thoroughly cooking meat, chicken, and eggs, Nathaniel Tablante, DVM, a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Maryland, advises taking precautions that would help prevent the spread of any pathogen. 

That includes proper storage and handling of food products from animals, as well as “washing hands thoroughly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds,” he told Health.  

It’s also important to stay up to date on the latest bird flu developments by checking the websites of reliable sources, such as the CDC, FDA, and USDA.