The Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin is conducting research on high path avian flu in dairy.
They say that pasteurization is capable of inactivating the virus in milk.
According to John Lucey, “It seems like this virus, this bird flu virus, this influenza virus is pretty easy to inactivate by heat treatment. So, I’m pretty hopeful that all of these raw or heat-treated cheeses, milk used for cheeses, would be inactivated by the treatment when we’re using it.”
While experts have warned about the dangers of consuming raw or unpasteurized milk, Lucey says that many packaged cheeses are sold with “raw” on the label without actually being 100% raw.
“There are a couple of important details for the public to understand. Something will be labeled or considered raw by the FDA for cheese purposes, even though it might have a heat treatment that’s pretty significant. But if it doesn’t reach the number or the level that the FDA considers pasteurization, everything below that number is completely raw from their perspective,” he explains. “For example, something could be 5º Fahrenheit, less than the critical temperatures, and the FDA would still consider that raw. It’s either pasteurized or raw. There are only two definitions for them.”
The research included the same FDA industry standards for pasteurization that also inactivates pathogens like salmonella and listeria.