Feds can compel any company that handles pre-pasteurized milk to share samples.

On Friday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it would begin a nationwide testing program for the presence of the H5N1 flu virus, also known as the bird flu. Testing will focus on pre-pasteurized milk at dairy processing facilities (pasteurization inactivates the virus), but the order that’s launching the program will require anybody involved with milk production before then to provide samples to the USDA on request. That includes “any entity responsible for a dairy farm, bulk milk transporter, bulk milk transfer station, or dairy processing facility.”

The ultimate goal is to identify individual herds where the virus is circulating and use the agency’s existing powers to do contact tracing and restrict the movement of cattle, with the ultimate goal of eliminating the virus from US herds.

  • Flying Squid
    4•4 days ago

    “Everything else” is, in general, lentil dal. Which is a bit of an improvement.

    Oh, and tea and a bit of wine.

    The point is that some people’s diets are under the supervision of an educated nutritionist and when that medical professional says to drink things with milk in them, I do. It’s not as simple as you think to just switch away from certain foods for people on special diets. And people like you never consider people like me. It’s this idea that there’s some universal foods that everyone can eat no matter what their health is or what their needs are. It’s just not true and I am really tired of this whole idea that I can just choose to consume whatever I want because people on the internet say so.