Pasteurised milk safe from bird flu: US health officials

Pasteurized milk sold in US stores is safe from the bird flu as it effectively kills the disease, American health authorities said on Friday (Apr 26).

An outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has made its way through dairy cattle herds across the country and infected one human, who had mild symptoms.

Earlier on Thursday (Apr 25) the FDA reported that initial results from a commercial milk sampling showed about one in five retail milk samples tested positive for viral fragments, with a higher proportion in areas where herds are infected.

The FDA had announced earlier that due to pasteurization process the virus was unlikely to present a health risk via milk. But it said additional tests were needed.

Preliminary results indicated "pasteurization is effective in inactivating HPAI," the FDA said in its press release Friday.

Bird flu was previously detected in raw milk, which health authorities have long advised against consuming.

The regulators have again confirmed that till now no evidence has emerged which proves that milk is dangerous forconsumption.

However, traces of the virus in samples of milk from around the country clearly confirm bird flu outbreak in dairy cows.

The findings of the FDA emerged less than a month after the H5N1 strain of bird flu was discovered for the first time in dairy cows in several states. Since then, the flu has been detected in herds in eight states.

The FDA has been working to investigate the outbreak with the US Department of Agriculture and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The testing method used is called PCR testing and looks for bits of genetic material. If the result is positive, that doesn't mean they have found a live, infectious virus.

(With inputs from agencies)