Bird flu detected in beef tissue for first time, USDA says, but beef is safe to eat

Avian flu has been detected in beef for the first time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday, but officials said meat from a single sick dairy cow was not allowed into the country’s food supply and that beef remained edible.

The USDA said the H5N1 virus was detected during testing of 96 dairy cows that were diverted from supply because federal inspectors noticed signs of disease during routine inspections of carcasses at processing plants of meat. Avian flu was detected in only one of these cows.

Bird flu has been confirmed in dairy cattle herds in nine states, was found in milk and caused the slaughter of millions of chickens and turkeys. But its presence in beef constitutes a new development for the epidemic, which began in 2022.

The agency announced last month that it would test ground beef for bird flu in retail stores, but he hasn’t found any sign yet of the virus.

Even if bird flu found its way into consumer beef, according to the USDA, cooking the meat to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit would kill it just as it kills E. coli and other viruses.

Two farm workers in dairies in Michigan and Texas were sickened by bird flu this spring. The danger to the public remains weakBut farmworkers exposed to infected animals are at higher risk, health officials said.

Only one other human case of bird flu has been confirmed in the United States. In 2022, a prisoner in a work program contracted it while killing infected birds at a poultry farm in Montrose County, Colorado. His only symptom was fatigue and he recovered.