Episode 228 - FDA: milk is safe, USDA: meat is safe, Michigan announces state requirements, clarity for movements related to federal guidance - UMN Extension's The Moos Room
What is up everybody? This is doctor Joe Armstrong. We've got some stuff to update. It's gonna be a fairly quick episode. Today is 5-2-24 at approximately noon.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:Just wanna make sure we're keeping up to date and the time and all of this because it's starting to blend together for me. So I wanna make sure it's clear where we're standing and what time of day it is as new information comes out. At times, it's coming hourly. We get changes. A little more manageable when it's daily.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:We'll see as we go here. It's going to have these periods where there's lots of updates and then big lulls and then bunch of updates again. That seems to be where we're at. I'm making sure to get this episode in today because today is Thursday. I will not be here on Friday, and you will not hear from me.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:I guarantee it. I get an opportunity to go and see my baby nephew that was born not too long ago, and I gotta get out there before he's not a baby anymore. I'm going to see that cuteness in person, and I guarantee you, you will not hear from me. Okay. On to the matter at hand.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:Let's get to FDA and milk. So just to get the whole story, on Tuesday, April 23rd, the FDA announced that grocery store milk had tested positive for H5N1 using PCR testing. For the record, PCR testing does not give information about viability of virus. A PCR test can be positive even if what we're searching for is dead. So at that time, FDA stated that egg inoculation tests were being conducted and that egg inoculation tests are considered the gold standard for determining if there is live infectious virus present in a sample.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:So since then, on April 26, FDA announced that preliminary results from egg inoculation tests showed that pasteurization is effective at inactivating virus and that no live infectious virus was detected in the samples that tested positive using PCR. Really important, in that same April 26 announcement, FDA stated Several samples of retail powdered infant formulas were tested, as well as powdered milk products marketed as toddler formula. All PCR results of formula testing were negative, indicating no detection of viral fragments or virus in powdered formula products. End quote. So that's excellent news.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:We're saying that milk is safe, pasteurization is working, and we're not finding virus in any of our powdered products that were tested. That's great news. We got more great news and good news on Wednesday, May first when FDA announced that additional egg inoculation testing of even more PCR positive samples, including samples of cottage cheese, sour cream, and more fluid milk, all tested negative, indicating there's no live infectious virus and that pasteurization continues to be effective. So the conclusion from that testing from FDA, In addition to preliminary results released late last week, these results reaffirm our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe. So, all great news.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:FDA is confirming that pasteurization continues to work and milk is safe. Alright, let's move on to another topic. We got news that on Monday, April 29, USDA said publicly that they were collecting ground beef samples for testing from states officially affected by H5N1. That was big news. And based on the information we had, we had no positive meat samples from affected cattle.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:So why go searching? I'm not quite sure, but it does seem to be another way to reaffirm how safe our food supply is to the country itself and to the world. So, on May 1st, USDA officially announced that the initial 30 ground beef samples tested negative using PCR testing, meaning that no h five n one virus fragments or whole virus were detected in the meat. In that announcement, USDA said, quote, USDA is confident that the meat supply is safe, end quote. In that same announcement, we have USDA telling us that research is ongoing and they're focusing on 3 studies.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:1 is to sample ground beef from retail in affected states, which is what they did, and that was negative. No virus particles, no virus detected in any of those samples. The second thing they're working on is beef muscle sampling of culled dairy cows at select inspected slaughter facilities. So they're looking not only on the retail shelf, but before that, in some of these cull cow plants and taking cull dairy cows and taking samples of their mussel to see if they can find the virus using PCR. We do not have the results of that at this time, but they will be posted as soon as they become available.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:The last study they are doing is a ground beef cooking study where they will be using a virus surrogate in ground beef and cooking it at all different temperatures to determine the reduction of the virus in that sample. Now virus surrogate, what does that mean? It means they're going to use a virus that is incredibly similar to the one that we're worried about in cattle, but they are probably not going to use the exact virus at this time. So, I want to reiterate a couple things: milk is safe. Meat is safe.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:To this point, there is no sample of meat that has tested positive for this H5N1 virus. All the standard food safety things apply. Do not drink raw milk that has been the message for a long, long, long time, so do not drink raw milk and cook your meat. Pretty simple and a good idea. Alright.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:Let's move on to some news out of Michigan. We got some interesting news out of Michigan, and they made some interesting decisions about how to handle this situation. So we had the federal order that applies to interstate movement only, and I'll come back to that. But we are still waiting for each state to decide what's going to happen inside their states. Michigan made some decisions.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:So in Michigan only, they are going to be requiring certain biosecurity practices, including designating a biosecurity manager, identifying a line of separation, establishing cleaning and disinfection protocols for vehicles and people, and establishing a logbook of who crosses your line of separation. Overall, are those bad practices in any way? Absolutely not. I think they are good ideas, but making them a requirement, will that change anything? I have my doubts.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:I think it may get people thinking about biosecurity a little more, It might put some onus on them to develop a logbook and identify specific spots where we have access points. But in general, I get the feeling that we have just created another box to check that really isn't going to change much. Now, to be clear, again, this is only in Michigan. The other piece of that is how are you going to enforce it? You're requiring people to write down this data in this logbook.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:Are you going to use it in any valuable way? I would hope so. I also think there's already other organizations and requirements of dairy farms in a lot of states that already go over this information, including the Farm Program. Overall, are they bad ideas? I don't think they're bad ideas at all.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:Making it a requirement, will it change anything? In terms of controlling this disease, I don't think so. Okay. There's some other things that Michigan did, so we'll get away from those biosecurity requirements. Michigan is also saying that all lactating dairy cattle and those in the last 2 months of pregnancy are prohibited from being exhibited until there are no new cases of H5N1 in dairy cattle in the state of Michigan for at least 60 consecutive days.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:Alright, so we're talking shows now. And, lactating cattle and cattle in the last 2 months of pregnancy are not going to be allowed at shows until Michigan has 60 consecutive days without new cases of h five n one in cattle. So that's a big deal to the dairy community, and the show community especially. There will be no lactating dairy cattle at shows in Michigan. Now, the big question is, will that happen in Minnesota?
Dr. Joe Armstrong:When we think about all the shows that we have, when we think about the state fair, county fairs, everything that happens with shows, will there be lactating cattle at those shows? Will they be allowed? I don't know. The state will decide. The Board of Animal Health will decide if that's a good idea or not.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:All I can offer is my opinion. At this time, my opinion is that lactating dairy cattle should not be at shows, including county fairs and the state fair. Give that a second to sink in. You can send your scathing rebuttals to themoosroom@umn.edu. With this disease, we are seeing that milk is the primary sample that we find virus in.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:We also have evidence to say that the parlor plays a role in cow to cow transmission, So at this time, with lactating dairy cattle, lactating dairy cattle are the risk. Milk is the risk of spreading this virus. As far as we know, that is the biggest risk. Are there other avenues for this spread? Potentially.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:But we absolutely know that milk is one of them, and likely the parlor plays a role. With that knowledge, I cannot have a different opinion. Lactating dairy cattle pose a risk to all the other cattle at a show, at a fair, and they potentially pose a risk to the poultry at that show or fair. Now, important to note at this time, Michigan also said that all exhibitions or expositions of poultry are prohibited until they have no new cases of HPAI in domestic poultry in the state of Michigan for at least 30 consecutive days. So Michigan is also saying there will be no poultry shows.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:Period. Is that possible in Minnesota? Potentially. This is a big deal. I think the bigger deal is that we have shows that both are at the same show.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:Those are the shows I'm most worried about. Poultry shows have continued through HPAI, and that's really their realm, and it's not my place to make a comment on it. But where we overlap and we have both animals at the same show, those are shows I'm worried about. The risk to both animals goes down, in my opinion, significantly if we don't have lactating animals at those shows. So again, we're back to, in my opinion, lactating dairy cattle should not be at fairs or shows, and that should continue until we have a handle on what's going on in terms of knowing more about transmission and the ecosystem in which this virus spreads through a community.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:Many of you might not be happy to hear that, but I also don't want anyone to be surprised if that is what happens moving forward, that lactating dairy cattle will not be at shows or fairs or the state fair. With shared milking equipment at those fairs, it just isn't a good idea. Even without shared milking equipment at those fairs, it still is not a good idea. Alright. I've said my piece on shows.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:I think everyone is clear where I stand. Again, I understand that's going to make some people angry and I don't like it either but I'm looking at this with a scientific mind with a good neighbor mind of making sure that we're taking care of not only the other cattle producers in the state but also our friends on the poultry side as well. Let's move on to some clarity. I've had a lot of questions about the guidance for movement and what it means. We need to make sure that everyone's on the same page.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:The very first thing I'm going to make this as short and as simple as I can. The first thing to note, the guidance applies to interstate movement, movement where cows cross a STATE line. Nothing in this guidance that was put out by USDA on April 26 says anything about movements that happen inside the state, so I will try to make this as simple and as short as possible as I can. Lactating dairy cattle crossing state lines need a negative test and a CVI, a health paper. Non lactating dairy cattle crossing state lines need nothing extra according to this guidance.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:You do what you always do You call the destination state and you get the requirements from them. Nothing extra from this federal order. Next category. Non clinical, lactating dairy cattle, moving directly to slaughter. Do not need a test.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:Do not need a test. They need a CVI, a health paper. So let's go through some basic scenarios. If I want to move a lactating dairy cow TO a sales barn that is INSIDE MY STATE, and I will not be crossing state lines to do so. I need nothing nothing above and beyond what you would normally need to bring that cow to the sale barn because that is a movement inside the State.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:I never cross the State line and this guidance does not apply to inside the State movements. If I have a dry cow a cow that is dry, and I want to move her across state lines, I need nothing other than what I would normally need to get her to cross a state line. This federal guidance does not apply to anything but lactating dairy cattle. So if I have a dry cow and I want to send her from Minnesota to Wisconsin, I call Wisconsin and I see what Wisconsin says are the requirements for importation. I don't have to think about the federal guidance at all.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:Okay, hopefully that clears things up. Here is the next scenario. If I have a positive test on an animal, what happens next? If you have a positive test from a cow on your premise, any cow, any calf, any bovine on your premise, lactating dairy cattle are ineligible to move across state lines for 30 days. Let me say that again.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:Any bovine that tests positive on your farm means that lactating dairy cattle cannot move across state lines for 30 days. So as the guidance is written right now, if I get a positive on my farm, I cannot move lactating dairy cattle across state lines for 30 days. This guidance does not comment on what you can do inside the state. So technically, lactating dairy cattle from a premise that had a positive test can still move inside the state, And dry cows from a premise that had a positive test can still move inside the state and outside the state because it's only lactating dairy cattle that are ineligible for the 30 days. Okay.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:There will probably still be clarification questions on this. I hope this helps clear some of that up. We've gone over a lot today, a lot of new information to process. If you have questions, comments, scathing rebuttals, those go to themooseroom@umn.edu. You can call me, 612 624-3610.
Dr. Joe Armstrong:Check out our website, extension.umn.edu. Thank you everybody for listening. I will talk to you soon. Byeeee
