FDA Report Finds Traces Of Bird Flu Were In Commercial Milk Supply Samples
A new report from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found traces of a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercially sold pasteurized milk from several states.
According to the report, which was published on Thursday, 1 in 5 samples of commercially sold pasteurized milk contained viral fragments of H5N1, a virus known as “bird flu,” that researchers say typically infects birds, poultry and other animal species. The fragments in the milk were not live or infectious, NBC News reported.
The report found that a large number of the milk samples containing traces of bird flu came from areas that had cows infected by the virus.
But the agency said that commercial milk is still safe because of the pasteurization process, which kills bacteria, and because of the destruction of milk from cows infected by the virus, which are two federal and state measures taken to ensure milk safety for consumers.
“Even if [the] virus is detected in raw milk, pasteurization is generally expected to eliminate pathogens to a level that does not pose a risk to consumer health,” the FDA said.
The H5N1 bird flu is not a new virus. According to the World Health Organization, the virus was first found in humans in 1997 in Hong Kong. But researchers say that the virus has primarily infected birds on poultry farms.
Since 2022, more than 58 million domestic birds like chickens, ducks and turkeys in the United States have died from H5N1.
Scientists have also found that other mammals have been infected by the virus. In October 2022, a mink fur farm in Spain had an outbreak of the virus, indicating to researchers the potential for mammal to mammal transmission, as well as transmission to humans.
From 2003 to 2016, more than 800 people were infected with H5N1, with the mortality rate at more than 50%, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. There have been five confirmed human cases worldwide and one death since October 2021, BBC reported.
Experts worry about the possibility of an H5N1 pandemic among humans, warning that the lack of clear and timely updates on the outbreak by some federal agencies, including failures to provide updates on the spread of H5N1 in cows and the safety of milk supplies, is reflective of the miscommunication steps at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Washington Post reported.
“This requires multiple agencies to coordinate and communicate internally, but most importantly externally, which doesn’t seem to be happening due to different cultures, priorities, legal responsibilities, scientific expertise, and agility,” epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina, who has closely tracked the avian flu outbreak, told the Post. “Mix that in with the usual challenges of scientific uncertainty, complexity and, quite frankly global pressure, and you got yourself an utterly, unacceptable mess.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FDA and state partners, are investigating the spread of the avian virus among dairy cows in several states across the country.
The FDA will continue testing milk supplies to further determine potential risks for consumers, and additional information will be released in the future.
“To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe. Results from multiple studies will be made available in the next few days to weeks,” the FDA said.
