Confronted with rising instances of chook flu virus being detected in uncooked milk in California, the U.S. Division of Agriculture (USDA) on Friday introduced it could mandate testing for the virus in milk nationwide.
The Nationwide Milk Testing Technique (NMTS) “builds on measures taken by USDA and federal and state partners since the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza [HPAI] H5N1 in dairy cattle was first detected in March 2024,” the company stated in a press release.
Any entity that handles pre-pasteurized uncooked milk—milk processors and transporters, for instance—should hand over samples for testing to USDA employees upon request. In keeping with the USDA, this may very well be an environment friendly approach to establish herds contaminated with H5N1.
As of Thursday, 718 cattle herds nationwide are identified to be contaminated with the avian flu virus.
The brand new testing initiative “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,” U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stated within the USDA assertion.
The transfer comes just a few days after a California dairy farm stated it was increasing its recall of uncooked milk and cream after state well being officers found chook flu virus in additional milk samples.
In a discover posted Tuesday, Fresno-based Uncooked Farm LLC stated it has now recalled all entire milk and cream merchandise with “use by” dates of Nov. 27 to Dec. 13.
In the meantime, California well being officers took extra steps to maintain customers secure, together with quarantining the farm.
“While this voluntary recall only applies to raw whole milk and cream, due to multiple bird flu detections in the company’s operation, the California Department of Public Health [CDPH] urges consumers to avoid consuming any Raw Farm products for human consumption including raw milk, cream, cheese,and kefir, as well as raw milk pet food topper and pet food kefir marketed to pet owners,” the CDPH stated in a well being alert posted Tuesday.
“In addition to the statewide voluntary recall, CDFA [California Department of Agriculture] has placed the farm under quarantine, suspending any new distribution of its raw milk, cream, kefir, butter and cheese products produced on or after November 27,” the company added.
No human chook flu instances linked to the consumption of uncooked milk merchandise have been confirmed at this level, the CDPH famous.
In contrast to uncooked milk, pasteurized milk is heat-treated to kill off any viruses and stays secure to drink.
The most recent actions comply with recollects of two a lot of Uncooked Farm merchandise after chook flu was first reported in uncooked milk samples on Nov. 24.
Chook flu first surfaced in U.S. dairy cows in March. Since then, the virus has been spreading throughout the nation, significantly in California, the place practically 500 of the greater than 700 contaminated herds nationwide have been detected, the Related Press reported.
Up to now this 12 months, the virus has contaminated 58 individuals in america, together with 31 in California, based on the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. Gentle sicknesses have been seen in dairy and poultry staff who had shut contact with contaminated animals. No instances of chook flu spreading between individuals have been detected to date, the company added.
In a press release posted to its web site, Uncooked Farm officers stated they had been working to revive uncooked milk provide rapidly.
“There are no illnesses associated with H5N1 in our products. But rather this is a political issue,” the submit acknowledged. “There are no food safety issues with our products or consumer safety. We are working towards resolving this political issue while being cooperative with our government regulatory agencies.”
Any transfer to limit public entry to uncooked milk may very well be challenged by the incoming Trump administration, nevertheless. Robert Kennedy Jr., who has lengthy criticized crackdowns on uncooked milk, has been nominated to run the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies and has vowed to push for better distribution of uncooked milk merchandise.
Extra data:
The CDC has extra on chook flu.
Quotation:
USDA orders testing of milk provide for presence of chook flu virus (2024, December 6)
retrieved 6 December 2024
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2024-12-usda-presence-bird-flu-virus.html
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