by After the remains of a bird flu virus were identified in grocery store milk, federal officials announced Wednesday that they “believe” that the nation’s milk supply is safe and that the virus is inactivated by pasteurization.
“Milk is heated to a specific temperature for a set period of time through pasteurization to limit the activity of pathogens to a level that does not pose a risk to the health of the consumer,” said Don Prater, acting director of the US Food and Drug Administration. Center for Food Safety and Functional Nutrition.
However, Prater admitted that “no studies on the effects of pasteurization on HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) viruses and cow’s milk have been completed before.”
Wednesday’s safety declaration follows a series of bird flu outbreaks on dairy farms in eight states. FDA scientists said they have identified genetic material from the current strain of bird flu in samples of pasteurized milk from grocery shelves. DNA testing that has been done so far has not been able to definitively determine whether the viral particles are active or inactive.
Prater described the situation as novel and evolving but argued that pasteurization and sterilization “have served public health well for over 100 years.”
And studies of similar types of virus show that while pasteurization may not eliminate the virus, it will inactivate it, said Suresh Kuchipudi, professor and chair of the department of infectious diseases and microbiology at the University’s School of Public Health. Pittsburgh.
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Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary of Health and Human Services for preparedness and response, emphasized that the risk to human health is low but that the federal government remains “vigilant and ready … to keep the American people safe .”
Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, who was not on the call, said in an email that the federal government was leading this, and that the state had no response or additional information to share.
Government researchers are actively testing the virus found in milk samples in the laboratory to see if it grows in cell cultures or embryonated chicken eggs. These tests, said Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will show whether the virus is active or not.
Early tests show that the virus is not alive.
They are also increasing their surveillance and monitoring and suggested that more information would be released in the coming days.
In addition, they issued a federal order requiring laboratories to report any dairy cattle that test positive for avian influenza or any type of influenza A, as well as to test all lactating dairy cattle moving interstate . In addition, any farm where a cow has tested positive for bird flu will be subject to an epidemiological investigation and movement tracking, said Mike Watson, administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Details of the number of milk samples tested, where they were obtained, and how many of the samples tested positive for the virus were not shared with reporters.
Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the agency has tested 23 people for the virus and is actively monitoring 44 people “who are believed to have been exposed.” and at risk of infection.”
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So far, only one human case has been identified in the current outbreak, and that person was reported to have only shown mild symptoms.
In other places where people are infected, people are sickened by the virus and it is even fatal. According to the World Health Organization, which has been tracking the virus, between January 2003 and February 2024, there were 887 confirmed cases of human infection across 23 countries. Of those, 462 were fatal.
Although the current virus has not developed the ability to be more transmissible to humans, researchers have noted some worrisome mutations.
These include observations of the spread of the virus between cows within the same herd, from cows to poultry, and the movement of the virus between dairies associated with cattle movements. It was also detected in cows that did not have clinical signs of the disease – suggesting that it is moving without attention.
Additionally, on April 16, a USDA microbiologist identified a “change” in one sample from McAllen, Kan., that showed a mutation that made it more transmissible between mammals, said Watson, the USDA official. He said further analysis by the CDC showed “an overall low risk.”
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
