United States: Authorities in two of the three states experiencing new cases of bird flu in dairy cattle this month stated that their hands are tied by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after the federal agency requested states to increase testing and controls on suspect raw milk moving across their territories.
More about the news
Wyoming, Iowa, and Minnesota have revealed their first cases of the virus in recent days, and have become the first new states to be added to the USDA list in weeks.
According to Derek Grant, a spokesperson for the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, “There are no plans to conduct surveillance of raw milk for H5N1, and there are no plans for restrictions on raw milk sales due to the outbreak,” as CBS News reported.
The laws exist in both of the states, Wyoming and Iowa, which considerably limit state control on products such as raw milk to “informed end consumers” in the state.
As Grant stated, “Because of this, foods sold under the Wyoming Food Freedom Act are not licensed or regulated by the WDA, so there is no structure in place to conduct surveillance or place restrictions on sales.”
In Iowa, authorities said that they are encouraging producers who has sick cows to report to the officials to have the cows tested for bird flu after they realized that it had affected cattle and poultry livestock.
Lacking such a plan, officials refrained from stating they would prohibit affected farms from distributing raw milk.
The spokesperson, Don McDowell, stated, “Iowa’s raw milk law explicitly precludes the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship from licensing and regulating raw milk dairies,” as CBS News reported.
What has the FDA recommended to states?
Raw milk is already restricted from being sold across states, unlike its pasteurized counterpart, though some states have laws permitting it to be sold within their regions though some permit only its sale in farms.
FDA officials stated last week in a letter that efforts to eliminate operations could only be targeted in the case of cross-state commerce, not sales within a state.
The FDA spokesperson stated, “The agency has ensured that our state regulatory partners are aware of our concerns and recommendations, including by sharing and communicating directly, and by making this letter available on our website,” while citing “multiple engagements” with states over the issue.
According to CBS News, among the strategies that the FDA suggests to the states is a desire to introduce surveillance programs, which would conduct tests for the H5N1 virus on dairy farms that sell raw milk with the intent to “stop the sale of raw milk that may present a risk to consumers.”
In recent studies, researchers identified hints that the virus may also be spreading between cows within the respiratory system, authorities have been stating since last year that the droplets in raw (unpastuerized) milk containing virus particles are likely to be responsible for most within-herd transmission between cows as well as cross-infection with other animals as well as some human cases.
However, the agency is also continuing to allow aged cheese made from raw milk to be sold over state lines, though it is still unknown whether the aging process will provide an adequate safety measure and will effectively reduce the further presence of the virus as other pathogens do.
As an FDA spokesperson noted, “The FDA is continuing to gather data, conduct testing, and support research related to the safety of dairy products and H5N1 HPAIV, including aged raw milk cheeses,” CBS News reported.
Some states legalized raw milk
The laws of Iowa and Wyoming do not coincide with some of the other raw milk laws in various states, a number of which grant some officials the power to control the market.
At least eight states moreso have bills for raw milk still pending, as per the database by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The Minnesota Agriculture Department stated that notwithstanding its state law, consumers are allowed to purchase raw milk under ‘limited scenarios’, but if any farm is contaminated with the virus, it cannot continue to sell raw milk to consumers.
As Nicole Neeser, director of Minnesota’s Dairy and Meat Inspection Division, noted, “Herds affected with the virus are not allowed to sell raw milk direct to consumers because that milk is likely to contain harmful pathogens,” as CBS News reported.
In the Texas, one of the first states that reported cases from new outbreak list, health authorities propose to include the H5N1 virus in panel of routine surveillance testing of raw milk. They will also be implementing tests on animals in the affected areas with infected herds, as well as officials.
According to Lara Anton, who is the spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services said, “We have started testing raw milk from retail raw dairies that are near (in the same county or in a county adjacent to) a known outbreak of avian flu in commercial producer dairies.”