Precautionary bulk milk testing now required at Pennsylvania processing plants to protect dairy and poultry industries from avian influenza.
November 26, 2024
Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding announced that the state will now require precautionary bulk testing of milk for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) from Pennsylvania farms as an added measure to prevent the spread of avian influenza. No virus has been detected in Pennsylvania cattle, but cases continue to rise in other states.
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture is taking this preventative measure, at no cost to farmers, to pinpoint and contain the source of viral infections and prevent the spread of Influenza A, including HPAI, according to the announcement. Procedures are detailed in a quarantine order effective Nov. 20.
Several other states have implemented mandatory bulk testing of milk to reduce the spread of HPAI, including California, Colorado, Michigan and Oklahoma.
This testing plan was developed in close consultation with dairy and poultry farmers to minimize the impact on their operations, the department explained.
The measure was announced as more than 217 new cases in three states have been confirmed in dairy cattle in the last 30 days, the department said. Although not typically fatal in dairy cattle, HPAI can severely affect milk production, lead to serious illness in some cows and substantially strain farm operations. The virus is fatal in poultry.
“Taking this proactive step will ensure that we can protect our cattle, poultry and farm workers,” Redding said. “We are taking this step after careful consideration, in consultation with dairy and poultry farmers, and after voluntary testing was not adequate to get samples necessary for detection and prevention. Pennsylvania’s large number of farms with both dairy cattle and poultry present unique risks that demand extra vigilance.”
Milk samples will be collected from bulk milk tank trucks transporting milk from Pennsylvania farms to processing plants, the announcement reported. If the receiving processing plant is in Pennsylvania, the sample will be collected at the plant by the processor. If the processing plant is outside Pennsylvania, the sample will be collected by the shipper, whether the shipper is an individual farmer or milk cooperative handling milk on behalf of farmers. Samples must have been taken by trained, certified personnel and submitted to a Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System lab within 48 hours of collection.
Samples will be tested for HPAI. If the virus is detected, it will trigger further investigation to identify the source. Special quarantine measures will be established to contain and eliminate the virus at the source.
Pennsylvania joins only three states without an active HPAI outbreak – Arkansas, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma – in requiring precautionary testing at the processor level, the department noted. Milk that has been pasteurized is safe to drink, as pasteurization destroys the virus. This measure is designed to help ensure an adequate supply of milk in the marketplace.
This new measure adds to requirements already in place to help prevent the spread of HPAI. In April 2024, according to the agriculture department, Pennsylvania led the nation in issuing a quarantine order requiring testing of dairy cattle entering the state when HPAI was first detected in herds in other states – a strategic move that was soon followed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other states.
Poultry and dairy are the two largest sectors among Pennsylvania’s $132.5 billion agriculture industry, which supports more than 593,000 jobs statewide.
Chuck Turner, president of Turner Dairy Farms, a major milk producer and processor in Penn Hills, Pa., said, “For the past 20 weeks, Turner's has been voluntarily participating in bulk milk testing to ensure we are doing our part to limit the spread of HPAI. Without that knowledge, we cannot take appropriate action to prevent the spread to neighboring farms. We feel we have a responsibility to our family dairy partners, employees and consumers to do the right thing to ensure safety and mitigate negative impacts to the industry. I appreciate the leadership of the Pennsylvania Department of Ag to prevent the spread of avian flu and believe they are making the right decision to require bulk milk testing.”
State Veterinarian Dr. Alex Hamberg explained, “Increased, proactive testing is the only way to confirm that we don’t have the virus in Pennsylvania dairy cows or catch it early and stamp it out if we do so farms can quickly get back to normal. We’ve seen in other states that the virus shows up in milk before cows show clinical signs of illness. The virus has spread in other states by moving dairy cows from one farm to another, then it has spread among cows. It can be carried on contaminated equipment, trucks and farmworkers’ footwear and clothing moving between farms and buildings. Rigorous biosecurity, including disinfecting boots, equipment and vehicles, and using footbaths at barn entryways is critical.”
In addition to the quarantine order and the new precautionary testing, Pennsylvania continues to work with federal, state, local and industry partners to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from animal diseases such as HPAI, with several state agencies and centers providing regular monthly updates for dairy and poultry farmers and processors to keep the industry, their workforce and consumers safe, according to the announcement.
The state government has also made investments to bolster agricultural infrastructure and the workforce to protect the industry from future disease outbreaks and recover losses from avian influenza, such as creating a special fund to improve biosecurity and help poultry farmers recover losses not covered by the federal government, expanding veterinary lab services to speed diagnosis and response to disease outbreaks and funding research and implementation of cutting-edge technology that can help detect and prevent future outbreaks.
On a related note, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reported Nov. 22 on its Bird Flu Current Situation page that it has confirmed a human infection with H5N1 avian influenza in a child in California. This is the first reported avian influenza H5 virus infection in a child in the U.S., according to CDC, adding that the child reportedly experienced mild symptoms, which is consistent with previously identified human cases in the U.S.
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