USDA Testing Reinforces Importance Of Thoroughly Cooking Beef Amid H5N1 Outbreak In Cows

CNN (5/16, Goodman) reports, “Laboratory tests by the US Department of Agriculture haven’t found any H5N1 bird flu virus in raw beef, but they are a good reminder why eating rare hamburgers can be risky.” As part of efforts “to check safe food handling advice after the detection of H5N1 bird flu virus in dairy cattle, the USDA recently mixed a substitute virus into ground beef and then cooked patties at varying times and temperatures.” Although investigators “found none of the virus in hamburgers cooked to 145 degrees, roughly the temperature of a medium burger, or well-done burgers cooked to 160 degrees,” they did “find some live virus in patties cooked to 120 degrees or rare.” Reuters (5/16, Polansek, Steenhuysen) reports the USDA “previously said 30 samples of ground beef from retail outlets tested negative for H5N1 virus and that the U.S. meat supply is safe.” The agency “also announced that it was awarding more than $22.2 million to bolster the nation’s ability to respond and control animal disease outbreaks such as H5N1 bird flu, including enhancing laboratory capacity.”