Every infectious disease expert advised against letting you or your pet consume raw milk, because bird flu virus has been detected in it. But feel free to keep drinking pasteurized milk. By heating milk to a specific temperature over time, pasteurized milk kills potential viruses like H5N1 and continues to be safe to drink.

Minnesota announced that it would begin testing the raw milk from its dairy cows to see if any of them have H5N1 bird flu beginning on Monday. The announcement comes after evidence suggested that there might be undetectible cases of bird flu spreading from cattle to humans across the U.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued conditional approval for a bird flu vaccine for use in chickens. There have been at least 68 confirmed cases of bird flu among humans since 2024, according to the CDC.

With so much H5N1 circulating in the U.S., scientists worry we are a few mutations away from a potential human pandemic.

But the study, whose publication was delayed by a pause in public communications by the agency, leaves key questions unanswered.

Two cats that belonged to Michigan dairy workers exposed to bird flu died after being infected with the virus last year