The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a federal order on Friday that will require all raw, unpasteurized milk to be tested for bird flu.
The USDA said the new strategy was developed "with significant input from state, veterinary and public health stakeholders," and will help track which dairy herds are impacted by the H5N1 virus.
Officials said it will help to understand how the virus is spread and can help swiftly identify which states, and specific herds within them, are infected by it.
As of Dec. 5, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's data shows 718 dairy herds across 15 states have been impacted by the highly pathogenic avian flu.
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"Among many outcomes, 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 a statement.
The department also noted that the sample testing could help protect farmworkers from infections by lowering their risk of exposure.
To date, there have been 58 confirmed cases of bird flu in humans in the U.S., according to the CDC. Most of those cases have occurred in California after interactions with affected cattle.
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The new federal order will not supersede the USDA's order from April that requires mandatory testing of lactating dairy cows before they cross state lines.
Here's what the new order will require:
- The sharing of raw milk samples, upon request, from any entity responsible for a dairy farm, bulk milk transporter, bulk milk transfer station or dairy processing facility that sends or holds milk intended for pasteurization.
- Herd owners with positive cattle must provide epidemiological information that enables activities such as contact tracing and disease surveillance.
- Private laboratories and state veterinarians must report positive results to USDA that come from tests done on raw milk samples drawn as part of the new order.
The first round of testing under the new requirements will begin the week of Dec. 16 the USDA said. Some states, like Colorado, have already begun this type of rigorous testing.
The Colorado Department of Agriculture implemented the first-of-its-kind mandatory testing after it became the epicenter of the outbreak earlier this year.
These new requirements come a week after a farm in California that produces raw milk had to issue a recall after its products tested positive for the presence of the bird flu virus.
Health officials maintain that pasteurized milk — which goes through a heating process to kill harmful bacteria — is safe to drink.
