• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

H5N1 Bird Flu Now Found In Beef, But Experts Say The Food Supply Remains Safe

May 29, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

The highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu strain that’s been spreading among poultry, wild birds, and a number of mammal species across the globe has been detected for the first time in beef from a US cow. The meat did not enter the food supply – but after the recent detection of virus fragments in milk, it’s led some to question whether we can be totally confident that the food system will never be a source of transmission to humans.

Advertisement

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on Friday, May 24, that beef from 96 dairy cows had been tested for flu virus particles. Tissue samples, including muscle, from one cow tested positive. Since this cow had been culled due to showing signs of illness, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) stressed that it could not have entered the food supply.

Advertisement

“These actions provide further confidence that the food safety system we have in place is working,” the announcement reads, adding, “USDA is confident that the meat supply is safe.”

The outbreak has so far been limited to dairy cattle, and no virus has been detected in herds raised for meat. Similar questions were asked about the commercial milk supply when inactive H5N1 fragments were detected in pasteurized samples back in April, but the very fact that the fragments were inactivated shows that our best defense against milk-borne pathogens – pasteurization – was working as intended. Any risk is likely to arise from consuming raw milk, which is a very bad idea at the best of times. 

With beef, however, it may not be so simple. APHIS says it continues to recommend cooking all meat to the safe internal temperatures that have been determined to kill any microbes that might be lurking, but the fact is that beef is frequently consumed rare, or even raw. 

This fact, according to food safety and veterinary health expert Dr Gail Hansen, who spoke to the New York Times, could mean the agency’s confidence in the total safety of the meat supply is premature. “So once again the assurances from government agencies, before the science is in to confirm or deny the assumptions, continue to undermine the confidence by the public,” Hansen said. 

Advertisement

However, there is reason to believe that even rare beef might be safe. In its announcement about the detection of H5N1 in dairy cow tissues, APHIS also details an experiment carried out by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Large amounts of H5N1 were added to some burger patties before they were fried up to different temperatures and tested.

“There was no virus present in the burgers cooked to 145 (medium) or 160 (well done) degrees, which is FSIS’ recommended cooking temperature,” they said. “Even cooking burgers to 120 (rare) degrees, which is well below the recommended temperature, substantially inactivated the virus.”

The message from them is clear – meat or milk, even from infected cows, should be safe for human consumption as long as usual precautions around cooking, handling, and pasteurization are followed. 

It’s difficult not to be concerned by news of the continued spread of H5N1 flu. The virus has reached the remotest corners of our planet, affecting species we might not have thought would be vulnerable. While the US dairy cow outbreaks have led to two recorded human cases so far, both individuals have thankfully recovered, after experiencing only mild symptoms. Sustained transmission between humans, which the virus would have to figure out if were to have true pandemic potential, has not been seen. 

Advertisement

But if we don’t want to sleepwalk into the next health emergency, it’s vital that agencies like the USDA keep a close watch on how the outbreak is progressing, and analyses like this are a big part of that. 

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Lithuania to fence first 110 km of Belarus border by April
  2. China’s ICBC to restrict some forex and commodities trading
  3. Potential New Treatment For Alcohol Use Disorder Identified By Scientists
  4. Why Is Earth’s Inner Core Solid When It’s Hotter Than The Sun’s Surface?

Source Link: H5N1 Bird Flu Now Found In Beef, But Experts Say The Food Supply Remains Safe

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • How Easy Is It For A Country To Change Its Time Zone?
  • Earth’s First Commercial Space Station Set To Launch In 2026
  • Black Hole Moon: Rogue Planets With Weird Signatures Could Be A Sign Of Advanced Alien Life
  • World’s Largest Ephemeral Lake Set To Turn Iconic Peachy Pink After Extreme Flooding
  • Stunning New JWST Observations Give Further Evidence That Dark Matter Is A Real Substance
  • How Big Is This Spider? Study Explains Why You Might Overestimate Their Size
  • Orcas Sometimes Give Humans Presents Of Food And We Don’t Know Why
  • New Approach For Interstellar Navigation Was Tested On A Spacecraft 9 Billion Kilometers Away
  • For Only The Second Recorded Time, Two Novae Are Visible With The Naked Eye At Once
  • Long-Lost Ancient Egyptian City Ruled By Cobra Goddess Discovered In Nile Delta
  • Much Maligned Norwegian Lemming Is One Of The Newest Mammal Species On Earth
  • Where Are The Real Geographical Centers Of All The Continents?
  • New Species Of South African Rain Frog Discovered, And It’s Absolutely Fuming About It
  • Love Cheese But Hate Nightmares? Bad News, It Looks Like The Two Really Are Related
  • Project Hail Mary Trailer First Look: What Would Happen If The Sun Got Darker?
  • Newly Discovered Cell Structure Might Hold Key To Understanding Devastating Genetic Disorders
  • What Is Kakeya’s Needle Problem, And Why Do We Want To Solve It?
  • “I Wasn’t Prepared For The Sheer Number Of Them”: Cave Of Mummified Never-Before-Seen Eyeless Invertebrates Amazes Scientists
  • Asteroid Day At 10: How The World Is More Prepared Than Ever To Face Celestial Threats
  • What Happened When A New Zealand Man Fell Butt-First Onto A Powerful Air Hose
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version