CNN – Raw cheese made with milk from dairy cattle infected with bird flu can harbor infectious virus for months and may be a risk to public health, according to a new study from researchers at Cornell University that was funded by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Raw milk cheeses are those made with milk that hasn’t been heat-treated, or pasteurized, to kill germs.
Although federal law prohibits the sale of raw milk across state lines, sales of raw milk cheese are legal nationwide as long as it’s aged at least 60 days before landing on store shelves.
This requirement, which has been in place since 1949, is thought to cut the risk of contamination, since it allows development of natural acids and enzymes, which were believed to kill off pathogens.
The new study shows that this aging process may not inactivate the H5N1 virus, however, and it underscores the risk of consuming raw or undercooked foods during the bird flu outbreak, which continues to infect dairy cattle, poultry and a growing number of other animal species.
The same group of researchers previously found that H5N1 virus remained infectious in refrigerated raw milk for up to eight weeks.
Dr. Diego Diel, who led the study, says he thinks the virus may be so stable in milk and cheese because it’s protected by the complex matrix of molecules around it.
“The protein and fat content in the cheese and milk provide a good environment for the virus to survive at refrigeration temperature,” said Diel, an associate professor of virology at Cornell.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, has said food doesn’t pose a bird flu risk.
“The disease is not passed through food, so you cannot get it – as far as we know, you cannot get it from an egg or milk or meat from an infected animal,” Kennedy told Fox News …
