(NEXSTAR) — Inactive fragments of the bird flu virus that has sickened dairy herds in eight states have been detected in pasteurized milk, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday.
The FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) stressed that the remnants “do not represent actual virus” and therefore don’t pose a health risk to consumers.
“To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” the FDA wrote, citing the pasteurization process and the “diversion or destruction of milk from sick cows.”
Scientists say there’s no evidence to suggest that people can contract the virus by consuming food that’s been pasteurized, or heat-treated — or properly cooked.
“There is no evidence to date that this is infectious virus and the FDA is following up on that,” said Lee-Ann Jaykus, an emeritus food microbiologist and virologist at North Carolina State University.
The FDA has been testing samples nationwide, but officials did not say where the positive samples were from.
As of Tuesday evening, the virus, known as Type A H5N1, has been found in dairy cows in Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and South Dakota.
While the virus has caused mass deaths in wild bird and other animal populations — even killing thousands of sea lions in South America — the most common symptoms in dairy cows have included decreased lactation and low appetite, according to the FDA.
Two people in U.S. have been infected with bird flu to date. A Texas dairy worker who was in close contact with an infected cow recently developed a mild eye infection and has recovered. In 2022, a prison inmate in a work program caught it while killing infected birds at a Colorado poultry farm. His only symptom was fatigue, and he also recovered.
Federal officials say they continue to confirm the effectiveness of pasteurization as they test milk at various steps in the production process, including samples from store shelves.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
