US Government Testing Ground Beef for Bird Flu

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Facts

  • The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Monday said it would begin testing ground beef samples from grocery stores in states where the H5N1 bird flu has been found in dairy cows.1
  • The USDA also said it would begin testing cooking infected ground beef from nine impacted states at different temperatures to determine if it's safe to eat.2
  • Dairy herds in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas were confirmed to have the virus, leading the USDA to test samples of pasteurized milk, which revealed inactive remnants of H5N1.2
  • The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have each announced that the risk to public health is low, although the risk increases for people who are exposed to infected animals.3
  • H5N1 has evolved since its outbreak began in 2020, which has caused fears it could spread to humans. As of last week, 90M poultry (mostly chickens) in 48 states had been euthanized because of bird flu since 2022.1
  • The CDC recently reported a US dairy worker became the second known human to contract the virus in the recent US outbreak.2

Sources: 1Forbes, 2CBS and 3Reuters.com.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Healthline. The experts are on top of this, and the testing of the ground beef is just the next step in making sure H5N1 isn't a greater risk to humans. People can take solace in that the disease is highly contagious among birds — but not humans — and that it's highly unlikely anyone will contract the virus from eating beef or poultry. Overly concerned people can take steps to stay away from infected animals and make sure they cook their meats properly.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by NBC. More needs to be done to make sure farm workers aren't contracting H5N1. There's anecdotal evidence of humans coming down with flu-like symptoms at the same time the animals they were working with had the virus — but the humans weren't tested. Farm workers may be worried about a threat to their livelihood, but for the good of society they must be vigilant about reporting symptoms and the government must keep a closer eye on them.

Predictions