Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is a disease that is highly contagious and often deadly in poultry, caused by highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5) and A (H7) viruses; it is also known as bird or avian flu. The FDA has found that one in five samples of consumer milk contain inactive viral fragments of Bird Flu pathogens. Transmission origin unknown.
Most of the USA milk supply is pasteurized, a process which kills any pathogenic virus that might be present. So, the milk supply is safe. It is odd however, that Bird Flu is somehow being carried in dairy cows. Given the nature of how the FDA has previously handled Bovine Somatotrophin (BST), or growth hormone use in dairy cows, and given the nature of how the FDA botched the initial handling of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, Mad Cow), some people are concerned.
From my perspective, this recent FDA report seems to be targeting the growing trend of raw milk sales and usage.
It has long been accepted that the FDA doesn’t like people who avoid adulterating their body with genetically modified food products from the friendship of Big Ag and Big Rx; it’s a financial issue. The FDA fully supports the genetic modification of food, the vaccine injections from Big Ag/Rx and the allowed use of animal growth hormones.
The food supply has long been considered an optimal pathway for vaccine delivery into the human body. Much like the fluoride addition to municipal water supplies, the opportunity to enhance food with vaccines or DNA modification targeting has long been a goal.
FDA REPORT, April 25, 2024 – Today, the FDA received some initial results from its nationally representative commercial milk sampling study. The agency continues to analyze this information; however, the initial results show about 1 in 5 of the retail samples tested are quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-positive for HPAI viral fragments, with a greater proportion of positive results coming from milk in areas with infected herds.
As previously noted and outlined in our summary below, qPCR-positive results do not necessarily represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers. Additional testing is required to determine whether intact pathogen is still present and if it remains infectious, which would help inform a determination of whether there is any risk of illness associated with consuming the product.
The FDA is further assessing any positive findings through egg inoculation tests, a gold-standard for determining if infectious virus is present. Early work by NIH-funded investigators indicates an absence of infectious virus in their studies of retail milk. To date, the retail milk studies have shown no results that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe.
Epidemiological signals from our CDC partners continue to show no uptick of human cases of flu and no cases of H5N1, specifically, beyond the one known case related to direct contact with infected cattle. These important efforts are ongoing, and we are committed to sharing results from both the qPCR and egg inoculation tests as soon as possible. (read more)
There are all kinds of pathogenic viruses in animals and milk. That’s why we have been using heat and fire to cook and sanitize them since the days of hunter gatherers.
Don’t let the alarmism of others impact your peace of mind, but take as many prudent precautions as pragmatically possible to ensure your family food supply is as safe and wholesome as possible.
From my own experience, at the end of every FDA announcement is an entity positioning to gain financially from the solution to the expressed opportunity. We still don’t plan to eat the bugs.
