USDA Mandates Nationwide Milk Testing Amid Bird Flu Surge

Facts

• The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a federal order requiring nationwide testing of milk supplies for H5N1 bird flu, with the first round of testing set to begin the week of Dec. 16.^[1][2]
• Over 700 dairy herds across 15 states have tested positive for bird flu since March, with more than 500 cases concentrated in California, the nation's largest dairy-producing state.^[3][2]
• The National Milk Testing Strategy is comprised of five stages, with virus prevalence determining where a state is placed among them.^[4]
• The testing program will initially launch in six states: California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, with plans to expand to all 48 contiguous states.^[4][3]
• The federal order requires farms and processors to share raw milk samples and mandates that owners of infected herds provide epidemiological information for contact tracing purposes.^[3][4]
• So far this year, 58 people in the US have contracted bird flu, including 35 dairy workers and 21 poultry workers, all experiencing mild symptoms, primarily consisting of eye redness. While no one is yet known to have contracted the virus from a human, two people in California, including a child, had unknown sources of transmission.^[2][5]

Sources: ^[1]Wsj, ^[2]USA Today, ^[3]Newsmax, ^[4]Usda and ^[5]New York Times.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by New Castle News and Western Ag Reporter. Milk testing, especially for raw milk, is essential to combat the bird flu outbreak, which has spread to dairy cows in 15 states, posing a serious threat to public health and industry. Pennsylvania, for example, is being proactive to prevent the spread of disease and protect its multi-billion-dollar dairy industry and its workers. This health scare also proves the inherent risks of raw milk — often linked to greater outbreaks — and the need to prioritize safety over unregulated practices.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by PJ Media. The federal government’s heightened focus on bird flu and raw milk testing appears less about public safety and more about expanding federal control. While testing milk for pathogens is reasonable, targeting perfectly healthy farms through questionable PCR tests mirrors the federal overreach seen during COVID. Americans should not be spied on or forced to close their businesses simply because Washington bureaucrats don't like their lifestyle.

Predictions