In recent months, raw milk has grown in popularity as people like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow promote drinking it. However, raw milk is known to carry harmful bacteria and does not have proven health benefits when compared to pasteurized milk. Moreover, raw milk is directly tied to bird flu.

Poultry at a farm near Beverley will now be humanely culled and a surveillance cordon put in place.

The deadly bird flu variant H5N1 is spreading more widely than ever before. In March, the virus began spreading among dairy cows across the US in a first. Fifty-eight people have also tested positive in the country.

Health experts have been sounding the alarm about the potential pandemic threat posed by bird flu, which has been showing signs of mutating as it spreads among cows and infects people in the United States.