As part of research into milk safety, the FDA will conduct a second round of tests for the H5N1 avian flu virus in dairy products, aiming at a broader range of goods, such as aged raw milk cheese and butter and ice cream, the agency announced on Tuesday. The USDA said it intended to eradicate bird flu in dairy cattle without resorting to a yet-to-be-developed vaccine.
The FDA said it would buy approximately 155 dairy products from retailers “to address remaining geographic and product gaps” as well as products from states previously tested. High-precision tests in April and May showed that pasteurization, used for almost all of the U.S. milk supply, kills the virus. Fragments of the virus were found in milk samples soon after bird flu was identified for the first time in dairy cattle in late March.
During a teleconference, FDA food safety official Don Prater said researchers also would study the dynamics of pasteurization to assure the milk supply is safe. “While our initial assessment of the milk safety system continues to be affirmed by sampling and testing of retail dairy products, there remain a number of collective activities being undertaken to ensure the continued effectiveness of the federal-state milk safety system,” said an FDA statement.
The USDA expects a surge in enrollment by dairy farmers as it launches a voluntary herd-testing program and a program to compensate farmers for milk production lost to bird flu, said USDA official Eric Deeble.
Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Texas, with one herd each, are the initial states in the herd-testing program. Deeble said a dozen other states were in discussions about joining the program, which was announced on May 30.
“In the very near future,” USDA will announce details of a plan to compensate producers for 90 percent of the value of milk losses from infected cattle, said Deeble. The compensation would be paid from the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program. The USDA has been working on the plan since late May.
To date, bird flu has been confirmed in 126 herds in 12 states, according to a USDA database. Idaho has the most outbreaks, 27, and Michigan has 26.
The USDA received a “very robust” response when it asked drug makers if they were interested in developing a bird flu vaccine for cattle, said Deeble. “This is going to take some time” and the work is challenging, he said in discouraging expectations of a vaccination campaign soon.
Instead, the USDA has focused on detection and containment of the virus on dairy farms to eliminate the virus “in the absence of a vaccine,” he said. A vaccine would be a useful tool for producers “when it is available,” he said.
Finland will become the first nation in the world to offer bird flu vaccinations to workers with exposure to animals, said the country’s Institute for Health and Welfare. No human cases of bird flu have been reported there. Chief Physician Hanna Nohynek told Reuters “conditions in Finland are very different in that we have fur farms where people can end up in contact with wildlife.” There were outbreaks of bird flu among mink and foxes held in Finland’s mostly open-air fur farms last year.
U.S. public health officials say the risk of bird flu to the general population was low. “People with job-related or recreational exposures to birds or infected mammals should take appropriate precautions to protect against bird flu,” such as wearing protective equipment, said the Centers for Disease Control.
Three dairy farmworkers have contracted mild cases of bird flu from infected cows since April 1.