Dairy safety and cognitive dissonance

Dr. Andrea Love on milk safety, food anxiety & chemophobia

Ever since fragments of the H5N1 virus (also known as avian influenza or HPAI) were detected in milk, the safety of our dairy supply has come into question, with some wondering if they should forego dairy in favor of alternatives, and others gravitating toward raw milk.

In this episode of the Food Bullying podcast, Dr. Andrea Love brings some insight into the nature of viruses, the history of pasteurization, and – long story short, why you can still feel good about pouring yourself a glass of milk. She talks through the specific testing measures in milk and dairy products around bird flu, also known as bovine influenza A virus (BIAV) in cattle. 

Dr. Love is a biomedical scientist and award-winning science communicator with a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology with over a decade and a half of experience in basic sciences, translational medicine, and clinical research. Outside of her full-time career in life science biotechnology, she has a passion for helping the public and healthcare professionals understand complex science topics to navigate the world better.

She is the Founder of ImmunoLogic, a science education organization that aims to improve science literacy, the Executive Director of the American Lyme Disease Foundation, and a contributing author for numerous science and health organizations.

While the conversation focuses largely on H5N1 and dairy products, Dr. Love also touches on the impact of social media on orthorexia, the parallels between orthorexia and chemophobia, and how she wishes the general public had a better understanding of hazard vs. risk (which she reviews in detail on this episode).  

Learn more about Dr. Love and her work at immunologic.org.

You can also find her on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and X.