Minnesota prepares to start testing raw milk next month
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture hopes to roll out testing of raw milk on dairy farms in February as the USDA works to control the spread of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu. According to a spokesperson, MDA is still working to finalize funding agreements with the federal government.
“We actually are working around the clock to put everything [together] for the plan,” said Dr. Hemant Naikare, the director of the University of Minnesota’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. “There is a lot of communication that has to happen. Testing is one component to the bigger puzzle we’re trying to solve.”
He explained the lab is working with state and national officials to prepare for the additional testing, which is part of the USDA’s National Milk Testing Strategy. There are at least 1,600 dairy farms in Minnesota that will be affected, he said.
“The goal is about 75% of these dairy farms will be tested at least once a month for high path H5N1 strain, so we are estimating close to a couple thousand tests per month to be done on the lab,” said Naikare. “This is going to be for a year at least.”
He explained the lab is also on alert for any cases of the rare strain of bird flu, H5N9, now identified among a duck flock in California. The Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has done more than 80,000 tests since the H5N1 strain emerged in Minnesota in 2022, according to Naikare.
“We are the eyes for detecting a high path incidences in the state so we’ve been pretty busy with it,” he said.