(NewsNation) — Federal health officials will collect samples of aged raw cow’s milk cheese to test it for bird flu for the next three months, the Food and Drug Administration announced this week.
The FDA said outbreaks of the bird flu in several states across the country prompted the testing. The agency is working with several other federal organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Agriculture, to investigate and respond to the outbreak.
Raw milk cheese is made with unpasteurized milk. In the United States, cheese made with raw milk must age for at least 60 days to mitigate the risk of any pathogens, the FDA said.
The FDA said it plans to collect 300 samples of raw cow’s milk cheese that has been properly aged. Testing will run through March 25, the agency said. The collection period will be extended if needed.
The collecting and testing comes after the U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered that raw milk samples be collected around the country and tested for bird flu. Collection and testing of the raw milk samples has already started in several states including California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
The CDC has reported that there have been 66 confirmed human cases of the bird flu around the U.S. and reported that as many as 77 people may have contracted the illness. Bird flu has also infected poultry in all 50 states and well as dairy cows in 16 states.
The California Department of Health suspended production of raw milk products at a California farm in early December after multiple cases of the bird flu were detected at the farm.
Three house cat deaths have been linked to the bird flu in California and Oregon. NewsNation previously reported that new research shows that the bird flu shows signs of a rare mutation.
