Federal Officials Find No Live Bird Flu Virus in Initial Milk Tests
The early results suggest that pasteurization is killing the H5N1 virus in milk, something that regulators were not certain of.
Federal regulators on Friday said that they had not yet discovered live bird flu virus in the first batch of retail milk samples they tested, a reassuring indication that the milk on store shelves remains safe despite an outbreak of the virus among dairy cows.
In an online update, the Food and Drug Administration said an initial set of tests looking for live virus, not just genetic fragments, suggested that the pasteurization process was effectively neutralizing the pathogen.
“These results reaffirm our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” the F.D.A. wrote in the update, adding that the testing efforts were ongoing.
Officials also tested infant and toddler formula, which incorporate powdered dairy, and did not find the virus, the agency wrote.
