Remnants of bird flu virus found in pasteurized milk, FDA says
Associated PressThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that samples of pasteurized milk had tested positive for remnants of the bird flu virus that has infected dairy cows. “To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” the FDA said in a statement. Results of additional tests are expected in “the next few days to weeks.” The PCR lab test the FDA used would have detected viral genetic material even after live virus was killed by pasteurization, or heat treatment, said Lee-Ann Jaykus, an emeritus food microbiologist and virologist at North Carolina State University “There is no evidence to date that this is infectious virus and the FDA is following up on that,” Jaykus said. Because the detection of the bird flu virus known as Type A H5N1 in dairy cattle is new and the situation is evolving, no studies on the effects of pasteurization on the virus have been completed, FDA officials said.