By Kirk Maltais


The Agriculture Department said it would launch a national approach toward testing cow's milk for the presence of H5N1 bird flu to help regulators monitor U.S. dairy processors.

The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said Friday that it would institute what it calls its "National Milk Testing Strategy." The plan is designed to quickly find the presence of the disease in cow's milk or in the cows themselves, by compiling random samples from different processing plants and testing them for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

The more-stringent testing regime is expected to provide more comprehensive data on the proliferation of the disease into cows, the USDA said. "This strategy is an important additional step to proactively support effective biosecurity measures," the agency said.

The USDA said 273 cases of bird flu have been reported in two states--California and Utah--in the past 30 days. The vast majority of these cases were found in California, the USDA said.

The announcement isn't seen as having an effect on live cattle futures trading on the CME, with the most-active contract up 0.1%, to $1.86425 a pound. "It sure does not seem to be a factor in the cattle," said independent trader Dan Norcini. "I guess it will be one of those things that don't matter until they matter."


Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-06-24 1412ET