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On the 23rd local time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that fragments of avian influenza virus were found in pasteurized milk in the country, but these milk may not pose a health risk to humans.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a statement that the virus fragments were inactive and that the finding did not represent "a real virus that poses a risk to consumers" in the milk, and that "commercially available milk is safe" for now. Currently, the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus is circulating in many parts of the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported cases of avian influenza in dairy cows in Texas, Kansas, Ohio and other states earlier this month.
According to the Associated Press, the U.S. regulator did not specify the number of samples tested and the source of the samples for the presence of avian influenza virus fragments in the milk, saying only that the evaluation involved milk during processing and on sale. U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said that research on the effects of pasteurization on the virus in milk has not been completed because the infection of dairy cows with the H5N1 avian influenza virus is a new situation. However, previous studies have shown that the sterilization process is "very likely" to inactivate heat-sensitive viruses such as the H5N1 avian influenza virus.
Pasteurization is a disinfection method that uses a lower temperature to sterilize, usually at temperatures below 100°C, to avoid the destruction of food nutrients and flavor by high temperatures, while effectively killing most pathogens.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of avian influenza to human health is low, but if humans are in close or long-term contact with animals infected with avian influenza viruses, the risk of infection is relatively high, and precautions should be taken. Data show that two cases of human infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 have been reported in the United States so far. Texas reported on April 1 that a dairy farm worker was infected with mild symptoms and has now recovered.
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Editor: Angel