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Traces of bird flu are showing up in cow milk. Here’s what to know

Genetic evidence suggests the outbreak in U.S. cattle started much earlier than thought

two people shop for milk in a grocery store dairy aisle. A cooler with gallons of white milk with blue labels and lids is in one cooler. The second cooler's door is open. It is lined with milk with red labels and lids. A person with shoulder length brown hair wearing a blue surgical mask and blue, white and black striped fuzzy sweater pulls a gallon of milk with a red lid out of a cooler. They have a white cloth bag with large red dots over their shoulder. A couple of coolers down a person with dark hair wearing a black and white plaid shirt looks over their choices. The photo was taken in 2022. Now people are worried about bird flu fragments showing up in cow milk.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration found bits of genetic material from bird flu viruses in cow milk in U.S. grocery stores, the agency announced April 23. Pasteurized milk, like that in this 2022 photo from a grocery store in Monterey Park, Calif., is probably safe to drink.

Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

By Tina Hesman Saey

Read another version of this article at Science News Explores

News that bird flu has been spreading between cows for months and that fragments of the virus are even showing up in milk on U.S.