As the H5N1 bird flu virus continues to spread Poultry flocks and dairy cattleConsumers could also be concerned about whether the U.S. milk supply is protected to drink. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the reply is yes. so long as the milk is pasteurized.

However, in late November 2024, California regulators recalled two batches of raw, unpasteurized milk from a dairy farm in Fresno after the bird flu virus was detected within the milk. The dairy afterwards has recalled all of its raw milk and cream products from trade because of possible bird flu infection. State regulators quarantined the farm and halted any redistribution of its raw milk, cream, kefir, butter and cheese products made on or after Nov. 27.

Immediately following the recalls, no cases of human avian influenza linked to the milk were identified. However, officials urged shoppers to not drink the raw milk from the affected batches and to return it to the shop where they purchased it.

Despite warnings from health experts that it could contain raw milk high concentrations of the bird flu virustogether with many other pathogens, Raw milk sales within the USA have increased. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump has said he’ll nominate head of the Department of Health and Human Services, has claimed that raw milk “promotes human health.” contrary to the warnings of FDA officials and food scientists.

As Extension Food Scientist in a state where the sale of raw milk is legalI provide technical support to assist processors produce prime quality and protected dairy products. I also wish to help people understand the confusing world of pasteurization methods on their milk labels and why experts strongly advise against consuming raw milk and products comprised of it.

What could make milk unsafe?

Dairy products, like many foods, pose risks that may lead to numerous illnesses and even death. Milk comes from animals that graze outdoors, live in stables and lie in mud and dung. The milk is picked up from the farm by tanker trucks and delivered to the processing plant. These environments provide quite a few opportunities for contamination by pathogens that cause disease and produce organisms that cause food spoilage.

For example, comes from environmental sources comparable to soil and water. Mild infections with listeriosis cause flu-like symptoms. Unfortunately, more serious cases are too common and might result in miscarriages in pregnant women in extreme cases even death.

Other pathogens commonly related to dairy animals and raw milk contain which may cause serious gastrointestinal infections and result in kidney damage; essentially the most common reason for diarrheal illness within the United States; And which cause abdominal pain, diarrhea and other symptoms.

Store drinks safely with heat

In the 1860s French microbiologist Louis Pasteur discovered that heating wine and beer killed the organisms that caused spoilage, which was a major problem in France on the time.

This heating process that became often called pasteurizationwas introduced to the United States before World War II, at a time when milk was in charge 25% of all foodborne illness outbreaks within the United States. In 1973, the federal government required that each one milk sold across state lines within the United States be pasteurized, and in 1987 this became the case Prohibition of interstate sales of raw milk.

Pasteurization involves heating each particle of a food to a particular temperature over a continuous time period to kill the product's most heat-resistant pathogen. Different organisms react in another way to heat. Therefore, controlled scientific studies are needed to find out how long a given organism will kill at a given temperature.

Since 1924, the policy has guided pasteurization within the United States Class “A” pasteurized milk regulation.a federal guide that’s updated every two years to reflect the present state of science adopted by all 50 states. Pasteurization equipment within the United States must meet strict requirements, including sanitary design, safety controls, and material standards.

Pasteurization methods

Dairy processors can choose from various kinds of pasteurization. When used accurately, all of those methods result in the identical result: germ-free milk. To provide an extra margin of safety or to cut back bacteria that could cause milk to spoil, processors may treat milk beyond minimum times or temperatures, extending the product's shelf life.

Smaller processors that process limited quantities use so-called Vat pasteurizersalso called batch pasteurizers. The milk is pumped right into a temperature-controlled tank using an agitator, heated to not less than 63 degrees Celsius and kept there repeatedly for half-hour. It is then cooled and pumped out of the vat.

The mostly used method for business milk is High-temperature short-term pasteurizationwith which large quantities of milk could be treated. Milk is pumped at high speed through a series of thin plates to succeed in a minimum temperature of 161 F (71 °C). It then travels through a holding tube for 15 seconds, whereby the temperature is mechanically checked and cooled for safety.

The most complex and expensive systems are Ultra-pasteurizers and ultra-high temperature pasteurizersPasteurize the milk in only a number of seconds at temperatures above 285 F (140 C). This approach destroys many spoilage-causing organisms and provides the milk a significantly longer shelf life than other methods, although products made this fashion sometimes have more of a “cooked” taste.

Ultra-high temperature products are processed in a sterile environment and packaged in sterile packaging comparable to lined boxes and bags. They can last as long as a yr before being opened. Ultra-high temperature packaging makes it protected for kids to take milk to high school for lunch day-after-day.

Bird flu in milk

Detecting avian influenza virus fragments in milk is a brand new challenge for the dairy industry. Scientists don't have an entire picture of the risks to humans, but they’re learning.

Previous research has shown that virus particles enter the milk of infected cows, but that The virus is inactivated by pasteurization. The FDA advises consumers to not drink raw milk because there is proscribed details about it whether it might probably transmit bird flu.

The agency also urges manufacturers not to supply or sell raw milk or raw milk products, including cheese, comprised of milk from cows showing symptoms of illness.

Bird flu occurs time and again in recent speciesand from the start of December 2024 There have been 57 confirmed human cases within the United States. Of these, all but two were individuals who worked with livestock.

Two current cases – a baby in California and an adolescent in Canada – could suggest that young individuals with immature immune systems are more at risk of the virus than adults. While medical researchers are still determining how H5N1 is transmitted, I agree with the FDA that raw milk poses risks that will not be value taking.

Red Sox

COMMENT

The penultimate baseball Sunday of 2024 was quite a baseball Sunday.

In Los Angeles, Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts cracked consecutive home runs to go away the Rockies. The Dodgers are within the place they at all times appear to be – on the cusp of one other National League West title, with a pitching staff that doesn’t seem healthy enough to win what really matters.

The Tigers won again by starting six pitchers and tied the Royals for the second wild card within the American League. (Detroit is 29-14 for the reason that morning of August 5, putting it 11 games ahead of the Red Sox despite scoring exactly another run than Boston.) The Mariners couldn't sustain, blowing a five-run lead against Texas.

The Padres handed the White Sox their a hundred and twentieth loss, matching the worst losing streak in your and your grandparents' lifetime, the 1962 Mets. The Yankees won in Oakland, falling only one win wanting reclaiming the AL East.

Paul Skenes brought his ERA back below 2.00 for the Pirates in Cincinnati, which was partly helped by the primary MLB home run for Quinn Priest traded Nick Yorke. (He made his debut for the Pirates last Monday.)

Also noteworthy: This defeat was the tip for David Bell of the Reds, who fired on Sunday evening a full 14 months after the franchise gave him a three-year contract extension. That extension got here amid hopes of a dynamic line-up of young players within the hunt for a spot within the postseason.

That October surge fizzled out. There wasn't one this yr; injuries and the vagaries of young players developing into major leaguers saw to that. (As did among the game's consistently worst defenses.) Some franchises persist with the method. Some fire their Chaim Bloom. Some fire their manager.

You know, there are not any analogies to Boston. I'm sure the hope here is different.

This obviously had a big effect on the playoffs on Sunday. At least for the Twins, although the Red Sox could not less than play the role of spoiler. A doubleheader sweep, 8-1 and 9-3ousted Minnesota for the primary time since their Sausage days Beginning of May.

Triston Casas, who hit three home runs in his first 32 games since his final return from his rib injury, scored three in Game 1. (“Not even in a video game,” Casas told reporters when asked if he had ever done that before.) Romy Gonzalez, an exceptional pinch hitter this season who was in an 11-1 loss earlier within the day, hit a three-run homer in Game 2 to spark a nine-run rally.

On the primary day of fall, the old ballpark rocked to Mr. Brightside, just because it had done for many of the summer. Those in attendance were glad to be there. The home team won a crucial game.

Even if it was a crucial game for another person. Even in the event that they lost greater than they won there for the second yr in a row, the primary time that has happened in two consecutive seasons since 1965/66.

“We will continue playing,” coach Alex Cora told reporters on Sunday evening. “We will keep playing until the end.”

A spotlight, as Cora had some deep personal reflection which gave each himself and his team a transparent advantage.

Another win can be No. 79, a step up from the last two discouraging years. (The Blue Jays, 6-12 this month, appear to have not less than a last-place contract signed for 2024.) Three more wins would mean a .500 season and possibly a third-place finish ahead of the Rays.

Actually, it was just window dressing. Before Casas made the memory of what might have been within the Red Sox lineup louder, told MassLive that “I never felt like myself this year.”

Devers won't must undergo shoulder surgery this winter, and the remaining appears to be enough to get one in every of Boston's key offensive players back into shape. It can be a start, but only that.

“There is a brand [of play] that we are looking for. We will make sure that we play like that,” said Cora said The Athletic in March“I think these guys are talented. They are. Now we have to go out and prove it, and I think they will.”

This team has something. They've proven it. Tanner Houck was an All-Star and hit the 170-inning mark. Kutter Crawford has nearly 180 innings and commenced 32 times. Jarren Duran. Wilyer Abreu and so forth.

They also proved that they need something more to get out of the quagmire of comparable teams — just a few good breaks in competition, just a few bad breaks in failure — and that they'll once more be the type of guys preparing for baseball after the upcoming Finals Sunday.

The season ends here. Hope is best than among the alternatives presented in the sport at the tip of one other yr.

But this isn’t a promise and it’s high time to construct on this hope.

Celts

If you're a Celtics fan (and as all the time, when you're reading this, we're assuming you might be), please remember: These are the nice years.

On Sunday, the Celtics front office probably stretched out in its confetti bed, yawned, and began calling current members of the roster to ask them in the event that they would love to re-sign with the team that rode straight to the Larry O'Brien Trophy in a season stuffed with good vibes.

Would Luke Kornet prefer to spend one other 12 months with a championship team that generally describes him as comic relief while remaining within the rotation? But yeah, thanks, he would.

Would Neemias Queta be up for a multi-year take care of the championship-winning team that believed in him enough to sign him for his or her last roster spot? Please and thanks, and he definitely didn't want that. conform to the deal before the beginning of free agency.

Would Derrick White want $125 million to proceed his championship profession with one in every of the NBA's legendary teams? Yes, in fact.

And in fact: Would Jayson Tatum need to sign the most important contract in NBA history, with all of the bells and whistles (like a trade kicker and a player option)? Would he want to stick with the franchise that drafted him and – after a number of rocky years – put him at the highest and entrusted him with superstar status? Yes, he would.

The Celtics are intact. One of essentially the most statistically dominant teams in history is basking in the attention of the free agency hurricane while all their rivals are racing to catch up. Baylor Scheierman, welcome to the NBA's quietest offseason. The Summer League ought to be a blast.

Of course, the nice years can't last perpetually in any sports league, but perhaps especially so within the NBA. The Heatles – and a number of years later, the dynastic Warriors – scared other owners a lot that the NBA put up guardrails in its final CBA negotiations to forestall superteams from emerging. Putting together an elite, multi-year dynasty became rather more difficult. In the means of creating parity, the league can have made true greatness significantly less attainable (or at the least less sustainable).

Even a comparatively mature title team just like the Celtics will struggle to retain its stars financially long-term, especially given the brand new, punitive second apron rules. The Celtics' luxury tax bill within the 2025-26 season, if the present roster stays together, can be a staggering $250 million, bringing the entire cost of the roster to well over $400 million.

Wyc Grousbeck and other members of the Celtics ownership group have spoken openly about their willingness to spend money in the event that they have an actual contender, and their actions over the past two days are testament to that willingness. But even the wealthiest owners might blanch at such a high luxury tax bill.

This, in fact, brings us to arguably the most important Celtics news on a day when the franchise's superstar committed to staying with the team for five more years: Boston Basketball Partners, which has owned the Celtics since 2002, is selling all of its shares within the team for somewhat cryptic “estate and family planning reasons.”

In a transient statement, the team announced that Grousbeck plans to stay governor through 2028, however the managing owner board will sell in 2024 or early 2025 at the most recent.

We can't know what the Celtics' recent owners will appear to be, but you'd be hard-pressed to search out a gaggle more dedicated to the project of “giving the Boston Celtics a chance to win basketball games” than Grousbeck, Steve Pagliuca and their partners. They were removed from the league's most financially powerful owners, but there was never any real query about whether or not they were more focused on winning games or their very own bottom line (which, somewhat fittingly, is partly how they managed to show a $360 million investment right into a franchise value nearly $5 billion — it seems that sports franchises that win quite a bit, especially in New England, are value quite a bit).

Unless a Manchester City-like scenario within the NBA occurs, this roster will eventually be too expensive. Then Brad Stevens could have to trim down his championship roster. Presumably, that's one in every of the explanations the team has granted all those contract extensions: when that moment arrives, the team should give you the option to regain the worth as a substitute of losing (for example) Klay Thompson for a pair of second-round picks.

Even now, at the height of the Celtics' profession, when you squint you possibly can see the tip – blurry but inevitable – in the gap. Such is life within the NBA.

None of this is supposed to be a cause for concern for the Celtics. In fact, when you're a Celtics fan, you shouldn't trouble squinting.

After all, the Celtics won. The front office built a champion. The players won the title. Fans can brag about every TV host who has doubted the team over the past 12 months – whether in point of fact or in an try to generate engagement with offended quote-tweets.

Celtics fans now not should worry about whether Tatum and Jaylen Brown are a very good fit (final verdict: they're an excellent fit). They now not should worry about whether Tatum will persist with the franchise long-term. They now not should hearken to jokes about Brown's left hand or the team's playoff failures.

The Celtics are once more ahead of the Lakers in titles, whether you count Minneapolis or not. Heat fans can now not attack the Celtics with jibes about their last title in 2008. Bucks fans are rightly appalled that they inadvertently handed the Celtics the right substitute for Marcus Smart after they traded Jrue Holiday for the aging Damian Lillard.

The Celtics are favorites for at the least one other 12 months. They ought to be great for some time and good for some time longer. They won the title. There's no downside.

These are the nice years. Enjoy them.

Gen. Alfred M. Gray Jr.who died on March 20, 2024 on the age of 95, was considered Legend for his heroism in battle.

But despite his military success, Gray, who served because the twenty ninth commandant of the Marine Corps from 1987 to 1991, will all the time be related to one in all the darkest days in U.S. military history: the Bomb attack on a barracks in Beirut on October 23, 1983. The terrorist attack killed greater than 300 people, including 241 US soldiers under Gray's commanddespite being within the United States on the time of the attack.

As a Scientist currently researching a project on this attackI can't help but notice that Gray's death happens right in the center a wave of violence In Lebanon This comes at a time when US troops stationed within the Middle East are once more being targeted by Islamist groups financed by Iran.

Marines in Lebanon

Gray's experience with U.S. involvement in Lebanon underscores the hazards American troops face when stationed in unstable areas.

On June 4, 1981He was given command of the 2nd Marine Division and all battalions that invaded war-torn Lebanon from 1982 to 1984.

At this point, the civil war within the country had already been raging for six years. It began on April 13, 1975and very like the rise in violence in Lebanon now, it was fueled by events south of the country's border.

Palestinians expelled or fleeing the territory that later became Israel in 1948 ended up as refugees in neighboring countries, including Lebanon. In 1964 the Palestine Liberation Organization was founded to represent the Palestinian people and fight Israeli occupation. Over within the mid-Seventies 20,000 PLO fighters were in Lebanon and launched attacks on Israel.

But their presence in Lebanon led to violence between Lebanese Christians and Lebanese and Palestinian Muslims. While some in Lebanon wanted peace with Israel, others desired to fight for the Palestinian cause.

Several cruel massacres marked the primary five years of the Civil War. In 1982 Israel began Operation Peace for Galileeinvaded Lebanon and occupied Beirut with the intent of destroying PLO forces.

The Lebanese authorities appealed to Western powers for help. In August 1982, the governments of the United States, France, Italy and the United Kingdom established a multinational peacekeeping force The aim was to revive peace and end fighting between Lebanese, Palestinians and Israelis.

It was not the primary time Lebanon asked the United States for help. At July 15, 1958As hostilities broke out between Christians and Muslims, 1,700 Marines arrived in Beirut able to fight. However, in contrast to 1958, the fighting within the Eighties was much fiercer and the war had already been raging for over five years.

While most Lebanese welcomed the foreign peacekeepers, many rejected them, viewing them as Western colonial interference in Muslim-majority countries.

Day of the attack

Then, on October 23, 1983Witnesses reported seeing a yellow Mercedes truck speeding toward the barracks where the American soldiers were housed. It carried 10,000 kilos of explosives, and the force of the explosion leveled the constructing, killing 220 Marines, 18 U.S. Navy sailors, and three U.S. Army soldiers.

A number of minutes later, an analogous attack occurred within the French Quarter, leaving several people dead 58 French paratroopers.

To this present day, this event stays the identical deadliest attack in sooner or later for the United States Marine Corps because the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.

Islamic Jihad, a pro-Iranian Shiite group, took responsibility for the attacks.

Gray, a two-star general, was alerted to the attacks shortly after midnight. The Beirut barracks bombing was a private matter for Gray; His troops were in Lebanon and he had visited them just months before the attack.

After the bombing, Gray got here over 100 funerals of the military personnel killed. He also offered his resignation in regards to the incident – ​​the one senior official to accomplish that. His application was rejected.

Lessons from 1983

One could draw many parallels between the Beirut barracks bombing in 1983 and current events.

In August 1982 President Ronald Reagan expressed grave concern about Israel's behavior in Lebanon and warned Israel against the offensive use of American weapons. In a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Reagan called Israel's siege of Beirut a “Holocaust.”.”

To reply to this human crisis, the Multinational Peacekeeping Force was tasked with doing so Evacuation of PLO fighters outside Lebanon to Tunisia. With that mission achieved, U.S. troops withdrew from Lebanon.

However, the escalation of violence led to their return. In fact, their families stayed behind while Palestinian fighters were evacuated. Then, after that Assassination of elected Lebanese President Bashir Gemayel On September 14, 1982, the Christian Phalangist militia entered the 2 refugee camps Sabra and Shatila and killed over 2,000 Palestinian civilians. Israel was considered not directly answerable for these massacres.

From that moment on, US troops were not noticed Muslim militias as peacekeepers, but as allies of Israel and partners in crimes against Muslim civilians.

Forty years later, American troops within the Middle East are still a goal for much the identical reason. And because of this, US soldiers saw increased hostility against them within the region.

There is one other parallel: just like the group that claimed responsibility for the attack in Beirut in 1983 financed by IranThis also applies to the groups answerable for attacks on US bases throughout the Middle East today.

Spurred by failures surrounding the 1983 bombing, Gray attempted reform the Marine Corps after the tragedy, with greater emphasis on intelligence gathering and understanding enemy groups.

And while it is correct to acknowledge a senior military officer who has dedicated his life to service, it’s equally essential to contemplate the causes that led to the deaths of those under his command – and the indisputable fact that lots of the aspects The terrorist bombings of 1983 still occur today.