Survey: Many unsure of temperature to heat food to prevent illness Do you know the correct temperature to heat beef and poultry? While 6% say raw milk is safer to drink and 13% say it is just as safe, 27% say they are not sure which is safer. While those who advocate for drinking raw milk contend that pasteurization destroys valuable nutrients, the FDA says that raw milk “is not nutritionally superior” to pasteurized milk. Bird flu and the seasonal flu vaccineNearly two-thirds of those surveyed do not know that the seasonal flu vaccine will not help prevent bird flu – 21% think it does help a person who is exposed to the H5N1 bird flu from developing severe illness and 44% are not sure whether it does. Just over a third of those surveyed (35%) know that the seasonal flu vaccine does not help someone exposed to bird flu from developing severe illness.