Following a recent outbreak of avian flu in dairy cows, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is testing the beef supply.

While the agency said Monday it is confident the meat supply is safe, it is sampling ground beef in the states where the H5N1 virus has been detected.

What You Need To Know

  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture is testing the beef supply

  • The agency said it is confident the meat supply is safe

  • The USDA is sampling ground beef sold at retail in the nine states where the H5N1 virus has been detected in livestock

  • It is also sampling the muscles of dairy cows culled for disease

The USDA is sampling ground beef sold at retail in the nine states where the bird flu virus was detected in dairy cows last week, including Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico and Texas. Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, also known as bird or avian flu, can be transmitted by wild birds to domestic poultry and other bird and animal species, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Bird flu does not normally infect humans, though sporadic infections in people have occurred.

The USDA is testing the ground beef samples using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to determine if the virus is present.

The retail ground beef tests are one of three beef safety studies the agency is conducting following the recent H5N1 outbreak in dairy cattle. It is also PCR testing the muscles of dairy cows that were culled for disease at the slaughter facilities it inspects.

The USDA said its Food Safety and Inspection Service veterinarians are present at all federal livestock slaughter facilities to inspect every animal before and after it is slaughtered to determine if it is safe to enter the human food supply.

The USDA will also conduct a beef cooking study using a so-called virus surrogate to see how cooking at different temperatures affects virus reduction. It recommends consumers always properly handle raw meats and cook them to a safe internal temperature to kill bacteria and viruses.

The results of the three studies will be released when available, the agency said.

The USDA tests follow last week’s FDA finding that the milk supply was safe, despite 20% of commercial milk samples testing positive for bird flu fragments. Both the FDA and the USDA said pasteurization and the diversion or destruction of milk from sick cows has kept the U.S. milk supply safe.