WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to embark on a year-long study beginning next month that will test samples for evidence of highly pathogenic avian influenza from former dairy cattle moved into meat production.
Emilio Esteban, the under secretary for food safety at the USDA, told reporters on a call Tuesday the new testing program follows three studies undertaken during the spring and summer that all found beef in the nation’s food supply is safe to eat.
“However, we want to move forward with an additional step,” Esteban said. “And what this means is that when those carcasses are tested, they are held and are not going to go into commerce until we get the results back.”
The virus, also referred to as bird flu or H5N1, has been found in wild bird and domestic poultry flocks within the United States for years. But the ongoing outbreak in dairy cattle has forced animal and human health experts to establish testing for a new community of agriculture workers and livestock.
The news of additional testing for the country’s meat supply came alongside the results of a study from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that reinforced the safety of pasteurized dairy products.
Steve Grube, chief medical officer for the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said that the most recent round of dairy product testing included 167 foods that were processed in 27 states in June and July.
“None of the product samples contained viable H5N1, reaffirming that pasteurization is effective,” he said. “The second survey was intended to address geographic and product gaps from the initial sampling of the commercial milk and dairy product supply that the FDA conducted during April and May.”
Testing milk in bulk tanks
Federal officials have also launched a voluntary program for farmers to test the milk in bulk tanks for H5N1, a step that’s intended to make it easier for them to move their cows between states without having to individually test each one.
Eric Deeble, deputy under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs at USDA, said the department’s Farm Service Agency has approved 23 of the 35 applications it has received so far to help ease the financial burden on dairy farmers who take their herds out of production after testing positive.
The program — known as Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-raised Fish — has approved more than $1 million in payments.
The price paid to farmers is based on a formula that includes the price of milk from the preceding month as well as the number of dairy cattle that contract H5N1.
Deeble said on the call with reporters that of the approved applications, a dozen are from Colorado, which has seen a sharp increase in the number of positive H5N1 tests within its dairy industry.
Deeble argued the uptick is due to certain factors within the state and cautioned people against assuming that if testing was increased in other areas of the country, the number of positive H5N1 tests for dairy cattle would spike.
“I don’t think that it is accurate necessarily to extrapolate from the situation in Weld County, Colorado,” Deeble said. “Weld County and Colorado dairy in particular is rather unique in the degree to which the dairies are all closely associated with one another; both spatially and the way in which there is a lot of movement between the facilities.”
