If you haven’t experienced sticker shock at the grocery store first hand, you may have heard through the grapevine that egg prices are soaring on account of bird flu. They hiked 8.4% from November to December alone, per the Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. But cost aside, are eggs and other animal products even safe to eat?
First off, don’t panic. While H5N1 avian influenza has been circulating nationwide for three years and infected several dozen people in 2024, no person-to-person spread has been detected and the current public health risk remains low, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That said, being mindful of where your food comes from and how it’s prepared will go a long way toward keeping you, your loved ones, and your community safe.
The bottom line? Stay away from raw milk, eggs, and poultry, says Meghan Frost Davis, DVM, PhD, an associate professor in the environmental health and engineering department at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“Our high-risk groups are the people who work with animals that are infected,” Davis, who is also a former dairy veterinarian, tells Fortune. “This is why there are the recommendations that if you see a sick or dead animal—not just limited to birds because, remember, it can get into mammals—to avoid them. But the consumer risk is going to be primarily through infected products.
“Milk, when it’s pasteurized, the virus is inactivated. So what we’re talking about here are raw products. This could be, in theory, raw meat and eggs and, in practice, for sure, raw milk.”
Why is raw milk dangerous?
Nearly 1,000 dairy cattle in 16 states have tested positive for bird flu since March 2024, according to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Of note, Davis says, is that one of the bird flu strains infecting cows targets the udder.
“From a consumer perspective, the milk from the dairy cow that’s infected is the most infectious thing that she’s producing,” Davis says. “That’s where you typically find [bird flu], because of this ability of the virus to really set up shop in the mammary gland.”
During pasteurization, milk is heated to select high temperatures for specific amounts of time to kill any pathogens that may be present, including avian influenza viruses. In the U.S., federal regulations require all milk and cream particles to be heated to at least 143 degrees for at least 30 minutes, or at least 161 degrees for at least 15 seconds.
If you buy your milk from the grocery store, it’s probably safe to drink; 99% of the nation’s commercial milk supply comes from farms participating in the Grade A Milk Safety Program, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The agency banned the interstate sale of raw milk nearly 40 years ago, and 20 states prohibit the sale of intrastate raw milk.
Raw milk holds no scientifically proven health or nutritional benefits, per the FDA, and has been linked to outbreaks involving bacteria from E. coli to Salmonella. Whether bird flu is circulating or not, Davis discourages people from consuming raw milk.
“There is, in the larger-scale commercial networks, relatively more confidence in the food safety because, typically, when the birds get sick, it’s really noticeable. It’s really fast and it’s really severe; sudden death is one of the symptoms,” Davis says. “The dairy is a little bit less clear because the dairy cows can have a variety of symptoms, some of which are non-specific.”
Smaller-scale operations, which may include raw milk producers, may see a disease distribution that makes bird flu infection less obvious, Davis says.
The FDA in August released the results of its latest survey of retail dairy products, which tested 167 samples from 31 states. All were negative for viable H5N1 virus.
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Check your cheese for pasteurization labels
Don’t forget to look at the labels of milk products you purchase, such as cheese, yogurt, and ice cream, says Melissa Wright, MS, director of the Food Producer Technical Assistance Network at Virginia Tech. They should say something along the lines of, “Grade A pasteurized.”
“Sometimes there are softer cheeses that may be made from unpasteurized raw milk, like Brie and Camembert,” Wright tells Fortune. “[They’re] generally a risky choice all the time, and a safer choice would be pasteurized milk and products made from pasteurized milk.”
If your favorite soft cheese is a product of pasteurized milk, it’s safe to eat, the FDA says.
Take your chicken’s temperature. The egg’s too
Just as pasteurization takes care of bird flu—and other foodborne illnesses—in your milk, thoroughly cooking eggs, meat, pork, and poultry before you eat them makes for a safe dining experience.
“If you’re cooking an egg, the yolk and the white should be firm,” Wright says. “If you’re making egg dishes, they should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees if they contain meat or poultry. If they are just eggs or eggs with cheese, things like that, 160 degrees would kill any bacteria or viruses.”
Food thermometers are widely available and can be a convenient way to ensure your food is safe to eat. The CDC recommends consuming food at these internal temperatures:
- Fish: 145°F
- Or until flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork
- Shellfish should be cooked until shells open, or flesh is opaque and white or pearly
- Meat: 145°F
- Includes whole cuts of beef, lamb, pork, and veal
- Cook ground beef and pork to 160°F
- Poultry: 165°F
- Includes ground chicken and turkey
Wright favors a four-step approach to food safety: clean, separate, cook, and chill. Wash your hands before preparing food, which should be done on clean surfaces. Then, separate uncooked items from cooked or ready-to-eat items, she says. After cooking everything to the correct temperature and eating, chill your leftovers in the refrigerator, or at 40 degrees.
“There is no known link at the moment between bird flu and sickness in humans through food contact, but a good year-round choice is to cook your food,” Wright says. “Know what you’re cooking. Cook it at the right temperature, store it appropriately, eat your leftovers within a certain period of time, and when in doubt, throw it out.”
For more on bird flu:
- As bird flu becomes a growing threat, Moderna is awarded $590M to develop mRNA pandemic influenza vaccines
- Experts sound the alarm as Ohio farmworker’s bird flu sparks fear it’s the next pandemic
- Bird flu FAQ: Everything you need to know about the latest H5N1 outbreak
- Bird flu could merge with seasonal flu to make mutated virus that could spread among humans, CDC warns
- What are the symptoms of bird flu, and how does it spread?
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