(Des Moines)– The milk you’re buying in stores is still safe to drink amid several bird flu outbreaks in Iowa. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig…
“If you are consuming dairy products that have been pasteurized, you have no concern. Even if you are consuming products that came off of a farm that was dealing with high path avian influenza in those dairy cattle, the pasteurization step would render that virus inactive.”
He says if you’re drinking raw milk, there’s a chance the virus could be detected inside of it. Naig says the cost and supply of milk and other dairy products shouldn’t be effected by any current or future outbreaks of bird flu in dairy cows…
“From a supply standpoint I really do not see a dramatic change at all. Something would have to dramatically change, I think, or really shift, in terms of how this thing’s playing out for there to be shortages of dairy products.”
Officials in Iowa are keeping an eye on the outbreak of bird flu among dairy cows, as county fairs and the Iowa State Fair approaches…
“We’re going to look at some options, maybe around testing some dairy animals before arriving at fairs, those types of things, but those are decisions we’re going to be making here in coming days.”
Two bird flu outbreaks have been reported in dairy cows in Sioux County, one in O’Brien County.
