According to the Bloomberg article, though the presence of traces of the virus in milk does not necessarily pose a risk to consumers, further investigations are needed to confirm whether the intact pathogen is present and remains infectious, the FDA wrote in a statement published on its website.
This would determine whether “there is a risk of illness related to the consumption of the product,” they added.
However, initial test results show that it is the killer of millions of birds worldwide how quickly a virus spreads among American dairy cowswhich raises health and food safety concerns.
According to the FDA, positive tests are more likely to come from milk from areas with infected herds. The USDA has confirmed 33 infected herds in eight states, including Texas, Kansas, Michigan and Ohio. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Agriculture introduced mandatory testing of dairy cows crossing state borders to understand the extent of the epidemic and to contain the virus.
The authorities confirmed that the risk to humans remains low. So far this year, only one person in the United States has been identified as infected — and there has been no human-to-human transmission. A person who had direct contact with infected cattle experienced only minor symptoms and was treated with Tamiflu.
To date, retail milk testing has not shown results that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe
the FDA said.
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