The U.S. Department of Agriculture published a federal order Friday requiring the testing of the nation’s milk supply for avian flu.
Samples must be gathered and shared with USDA upon request by organizations that handle raw milk, such as dairy processors or bulk milk transporters.
The objective is to avoid animal transmission and promptly determine whether dairy herds are impacted by H5N1, the type of avian flu that is producing outbreaks in poultry and dairy cows. 15 states and 718 dairy cattle were impacted as of Thursday.
In a press release issued Friday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stated, “Among many other things, this will give farmers and farmworkers better confidence in the safety of their animals and ability to protect themselves, and it will put us on a path to quickly controlling and stopping the virus’ spread nationwide.”
First reported by Reuters, the order’s first round of testing is scheduled to start on December 16. Six states—California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon, and Pennsylvania—will be included in the initial launch.
The directive compels dairy herd owners who have cattle that test positive for bird flu to disclose information that can aid in monitoring, in addition to the testing requirement.
In April, the USDA previously issued a federal directive requiring state veterinarians and commercial labs to disclose positive instances of avian flu in lactating dairy cows that were tested for the disease before being moved over state borders. The new order also keeps those criteria in place.
The directive comes in response to a heightened sense of urgency to handle the recent surge in livestock bird flu cases, which experts fear might someday become a more serious threat to human health.
Despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s cautions that drinking raw, or untreated, milk might expose one to avian flu, the practice has become more common. Commercial pasteurization, which involves treating milk with heat, has been proved in several experiments to inactivate the virus and render it safe for human consumption.
Up to 30 states permit local sales of raw milk, however the Food and Drug Administration controls sales beyond state boundaries.
Health inspectors in California found avian flu in several batches of raw milk from a nearby dairy farm in November. Although no human avian flu cases have been connected to the farm’s raw milk or cream, the California Department of Public Health announced a widespread recall of the goods on store shelves on Tuesday.
58 human cases of avian flu have been confirmed by the CDC in the United States to date. Most of them had come into contact with contaminated poultry or livestock. On Friday, Arizona announced two more cases among poultry workers, the first in the state.
So far, the symptoms have been moderate and frequently include sneezes, coughing, and pinkeye. The CDC advises everyone who has been exposed to bird flu to get tested, though, as some instances may be asymptomatic, according to a report released last month.
Studies conducted on dairy farms have demonstrated that the virus effectively transmits from cows to other creatures, including cats and raccoons. Because sick cows release a lot of the virus through their mammary glands, scientists believe that the virus most likely travels between farm animals through raw milk.
Although there is currently no proof that humans can spread bird flu to one another, experts are worried that H5N1 may develop in that way, which might result in the next global health crisis.
Those worries were reinforced by research released Thursday in the journal Science. According to the study, the avian flu strain that is circulating in dairy cows would transmit more readily between humans if it underwent a single mutation.
