Six More States in National Milk Testing Strategy

Late last week, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced another round of states coming on board with the National Milk Testing Strategy.  Washington, Montana, Indiana, Maryland, New York, Ohio and Vermont will make up the second round of testing.  The Strategy, which was launched on December 6th, requires unpasteurized milk samples to be collected and shared with USDA for testing.

This represents another step toward conducting complete nationwide surveillance under the NMTS and continues building on the measures taken by USDA and its federal and state partners since the H5N1 outbreak in dairy cattle was first detected in the U.S. in March 2024.  While the new federal order is effective immediately and has been in effect since it was announced on December 6,  USDA will continue working with other states to bring them on board as quickly as possible while also accommodating state-specific needs. 

Six states, including Oregon, have been testing unpasteurized milk since December 6th.

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