(Bloomberg) -- The US will begin testing raw milk supplies across the country for the presence of the highly pathogenic bird flu virus that’s been spreading in dairy cattle.
A federal order requires the collection of samples to be shared with the US Department of Agriculture, the agency said in a Friday statement. The move comes as the outbreak of deadly bird flu has hit poultry and dairy farms across the country, most recently spreading in California, the top dairy state.
“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,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the statement.
More than 700 herds have been affected by the bird flu during the outbreak, including about 500 in California, and more than 50 people in the US have tested positive, according to the USDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Raw Farm LLC’s retail raw milk products in California were recently recalled after state testing detected the bird flu virus at the company’s facilities.
Farms and other players in the milk supply chain, including transporters and processing plants, will be required to share samples on request. The first round of testing at silos at dairy processing facilities under the federal order is scheduled to begin the week of Dec. 16.
The federal order also requires herd owners with cattle that test positive to provide information to allow for contact tracing and disease surveillance, according to the USDA. The testing of dairy cattle moving between states had already been required since late April.
To be sure, federal health officials have said the overall risk of infection to the general public remains low, and the commercial pasteurized milk supply is safe.
Class III milk futures traded in Chicago, which sank to the lowest intraday price since April on Monday, have since surged to the highest price in more than two weeks.
(Updates with more details from fourth paragraph.)
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