The United States has mandated that all milk samples nationwide must be tested due to increasing concerns over bird flu.

The National Milk Testing Strategy (NMTS) was announced by the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) due to the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in dairy cattle.

The strain of avian flu was first detected in March this year and now a new federal order requires that unpasteurised milk samples be collected and shared with USDA for testing.

US agricultural secretary Tom Vilsack said since the first HPAI detection in livestock, his department has worked to identify affected herds and respond accordingly.

“This new milk testing strategy will build on those steps to date and will provide a roadmap for states to protect the health of their dairy herds.”

Avian flu

There have been 720 herds in the country, across 15 states, that have found herds infected with the disease this year until 6 December.

In addition, there have been 58 confirmed total reported human cases in the United States in the same timeframe.

This mandatory testing will commence in the US from Monday, 16 December 2024.

“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’s spread nationwide,” added Vilsack.

New Zealand

Meanwhile, New Zealand has suspended all poultry exports after detecting the H7N6 subtype of avian influenza at a poultry farm on the country’s South Island.

Biosecurity New Zealand confirmed that a rural chicken farm in the Otago region tested positive for the highly pathogenic variant, different from H5N1.

The government agency said that there were no reports of other sick or dead birds on other poultry farms, and no human health or food safety concerns.