Health authorities have called for mandatory testing of the nation's raw milk supply amid bird flu fears.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Friday that companies handling raw milk, which has not gone through bacteria-killing measures called pasteurization, must collect and share samples of the products upon request.
The measure, dubbed the National Milk Testing Strategy, is meant to identify which dairy herds are infected by H5N1 (bird flu), which has caused an outbreak among over 700 herds in 15 states.
"Among many outcomes, this will give farmers and farmworkers better confidence in the safety of their animals and ability to protect themselves, and it will put us on a path to quickly controlling and stopping the virus' spread nationwide," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a press release.
Dairy herd owners with cattle that test positive for bird flu will also be required to provide information to help authorities with surveillance. Testing is set to begin December 16, and the initial rollout will include six states: California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
The announcement comes after the bird flu virus was detected in unpasteurized milk in California last month, prompting food safety experts to issue an urgent 'do-not-drink warning.'
Raw dairy products have not been pasteurized—a process that removes disease-causing germs by heating milk to a high enough temperature. While sales have been banned or restricted for decades on health grounds, in recent years they have benefited from a booming demand for organic produce.
The FDA's longstanding recommendation regarding the consumption of raw milk is that it is considered a 'high-risk food' because of these factors. However, the government agency notes that "based on the limited research and information available, we do not know at this time if [bird flu] can be transmitted to humans through consumption of raw milk and products made from raw milk from infected cows."
Similarly, the CDC warns that "unpasteurized (raw) milk and products made from raw milk...can be contaminated with germs that can cause serious illness."