Still no bird flu in Canadian milk

Latest results from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency continue to find Canadian milk free of highly pathogenic avian influenza

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Published: October 18, 2024

Dairy cows eating

Canada’s milk supply remains free from highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), according to a recent federal update.

According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, labs had tested 1,211 retail milk samples from across Canada as of Sept. 5, 2024. All samples tested negative.

The agency has divided into four quadrants for its ongoing testing program: the Atlantic provinces, Ontario, Quebec and the western provinces. Between 300 and 307 samples were tested in each quadrant.

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As of Sept. 20, the CFIA had also tested 272 samples of raw (unpasteurized) milk arriving at processing plants across Canada. Again, all samples tested negative.

The most recent findings echo similarly negative results earlier this year.

Bird flu cases continue to pop up in dairies in the U.S. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Protection, 14 states have experienced HPAI outbreaks in dairy herds with 304 herds impacted as of Oct.15.

Testing of American milk samples have found viral remnants in retail samples south of the international border this year.

No cases of the H5N1 strain have been found in Canadian cattle, but concern over possible spread has led Canadian officials to institute new rules around cross-border movement of cattle.

In September, Canadian producers were urged to avoid U.S. livestock shows, particularly if there were any cattle or poultry participating which hailed from states where bird flu had been found.

About the author

Jeff Melchior

Jeff Melchior

Reporter

Jeff Melchior is a reporter for Glacier FarmMedia publications. He grew up on a mixed farm in northern Alberta until the age of twelve and spent his teenage years and beyond in rural southern Alberta around the city of Lethbridge. Jeff has decades’ worth of experience writing for the broad agricultural industry in addition to community-based publications. He has a Communication Arts diploma from Lethbridge College (now Lethbridge Polytechnic) and is a two-time winner of Canadian Farm Writers Federation awards.

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