U.S. dairies must now send samples of raw milk to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) so the agency can test them for bird flu, per a new federal order.
The move, announced Friday (Dec. 6), builds upon existing efforts by the USDA and other authorities to track the spread of bird flu in dairy herds around the country. As of Dec. 5, H5N1 — a subtype of bird flu — has been detected in 720 dairy herds in the U.S. this year.
