New York Ag Department announces plans to update state surveillance strategy in monitoring for avian influenza

The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (Department) today announced that it is working together with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and others to actively develop an updated surveillance strategy for the milk supply being used in raw milk cheese processing to facilitate the early detection of potential highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus.

This follows the release of preliminary results of research conducted by Cornell University, commissioned by the Department and FDA, which suggest that HPAI may survive the 60-day aging process in some varieties of raw milk cheese that is made with raw milk containing HPAI.

“Working with our federal and industry partners, we remain committed to first and foremost ensuring the health and safety of consumers and providing the dairy industry the support they need to navigate these challenging times related to HPAI," said New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball.

"Thanks to Cornell’s groundbreaking research, we are able to stay ahead of HPAI and implement a testing strategy on the national and state level that will help us ensure the food supply remains safe for consumers.”

To date, agriculture officials say that HPAI has not been found in any raw milk cheese available in the marketplace and there are no links of any human HPAI cases across the country to the consumption of raw milk cheese.

According to USDA and the FDA, pasteurized milk and pasteurized dairy products remain safe to consume as pasteurization kills harmful microbes and pathogens in milk.

There is also no concern regarding the consumption of properly cooked meat products.

“We remain vigilant as we monitor the risk of H5N1 in New York," said State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald.

"While there is no immediate threat to public health and no known cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in humans in New York State, this is a prudent measure to protect public health. We will continue to work with our state and federal partners to develop effective strategies to monitor detections in dairy and foods to ensure our residents remain safe."

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