USDA launching mandatory national milk testing program to track H5N1 flu outbreak in cows

With the H5N1 bird flu virus racing through California dairy herds, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Friday it is instituting a mandatory milk testing program that should provide a much clearer picture of how widespread the virus is in the country’s dairy industry.

Nearly nine months  after the outbreak in dairy cows was first detected, the USDA announced it will start to require farms to provide milk for testing when asked. The program will begin with six states, California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. Other states will be added later. Of the initial group, California, Colorado, Michigan, and Pennsylvania are already doing bulk tank testing on dairy farms.

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