Last month, NACS Daily reported that the national milk supply needed to be tested for bird flu under a federal order by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In December, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared that the outbreak of infections among the state’s dairy cattle constituted an emergency, according to the New York Times.
Nearly 700 herds in the state of California—or 71% of all herds—have caught H5N1 since late August, reported The Independent. “While California, the nation’s top milk-producing state, has the most infections in dairy herds, more infections were reported in Michigan, and the number of confirmed human cases has inched closer to 70, according to health officials.”
In December, a Louisiana resident became the first reported severe case of a human with the illness. A genetic analysis suggests the bird flu virus mutated inside a Louisiana patient, wrote the Associated Press. “Scientists believe the mutations may allow the virus to better bind to receptors in the upper airways of humans—something they say is concerning but not a cause for alarm.”
The virus has been causing sporadic, mostly mild illnesses in people in the U.S., and nearly all those infected worked on dairy or poultry farms, per AP.
The CDC said there has been no known transmission of the virus from the Louisiana patient to anyone else. The agency said its findings about the mutations were “concerning,” but the risk to the general public from the outbreak “has not changed and remains low.”
The Department of Agriculture is conducting trials for vaccines for poultry and dairy cattle, according to The Independent. Vaccination, however, “can complicate distinguishing between vaccinated animals and those naturally infected.”
NACS is hosting the Food Safety Forum on April 8, 2025, in Dallas, Texas. The Food Safety Forum is developed and administered by convenience industry food safety, foodservice, quality assurance, and risk management leaders. This is the only retail-focused event of its kind for the global convenience community.