Pasteurized milk from cows infected with bird flu has tested positive for the virus. The troubling disclosure from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) follows the discovery of the virus in dairy cows in at least eight states, infecting 33 herds so far. FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials previously asserted that milk from affected cattle would not enter the commercial supply. The FDA maintains that no risk is posed to consumers as the found material was inactivated.
To date, only two people in the U.S. have contracted bird flu, both in close contact with infected animals, one being a dairy worker in Texas, and the other a prison inmate in Colorado in 2022. Both cases were mild and recovery was swift.
The exact quantity of tested samples has not been revealed by the FDA nor where they were acquired. Testing has been conducted on milk during processing and from grocery stores. The agency anticipates additional test results in the coming weeks.
The FDA used a PCR lab test that detects viral genetic material even after a virus has been killed through pasteurization. Lee-Ann Jaykus, an emeritus food microbiologist and virologist at North Carolina State University, said there has been no evidence of an infectious virus yet.
In addition to dairy cattle, bird flu outbreaks have also hit chickens, with Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., the nation’s largest producer of fresh chicken eggs, experiencing an outbreak in one of its Texas production facilities. Scientists have warned that a bird flu outbreak could be ‘100 times worse’ than COVID. Earlier this month it was revealed that U.S. tax dollars are being spent on research in China intended to make a highly transmissible version of bird flu.
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