The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service rolled out its National Milk Testing Strategy to help combat the spread of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
USDA’s federal order will require the testing of raw milk samples to be collected nationwide and shared for testing.
“USDA believes this additional step is needed to proactively support effective biosecurity measures, which is key for states and farmers to contain and eliminate H5N1 infections from their livestock and to eliminate HPAI in livestock across the U.S. dairy population,” the department said.
The first states to be in the program are California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
