If any samples test positive for the virus, further testing will be conducted to determine whether the virus is “alive” and capable of causing an infection in humans.
Fragments of bird flu virus have already been detected in roughly one in five commercial milk samples, although it is thought that the pasteurisation process, where dairy products are heated to kill off pathogens, kills the virus.
The FDA and Centre for Disease Control (CDC) have strongly advised the public not to consume unpasteurised dairy products for fear that, if indigested, humans could become infected.
The CDC has said it is “highly likely” that the 24 cats who contracted H5N1 at a farm in Texas in March did so by consuming raw milk. Of those, half died and the others suffered from severe illness, including blindness, neurological disorders, bloody diarrhoea, and difficulty breathing.
Despite the warnings, around three per cent of the US public – some 10 million people – continue to consume raw dairy, many of which think it is a ‘superfood’, according to the National Institutes of Health, the US government’s primary public health research body.
