Study shows well-cooked burger safe from bird flu

There’s no sign that avian flu has made its way into the U.S. retail meat supply. But officials aren’t taking any chances. So the U.S. Department of Agriculture put some of the virus in ground beef and beef muscle, then cooked the meat to assess the risk.

The good news for beef lovers is that beef cooked to the already-recommended temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit or higher is free of bird flu. In a restaurant, that temperature would translate to “cook it medium.”

“The USDA is confident that the meat supply is safe and we have a rigorous meat inspection process in place,” Eric Deeble, the USDA’s acting expert for the highly pathogenic avian influenza, said during a media briefing Thursday.

The particular strain at issue is typically designated as either A(H5N1) or simply (H5N1). The A indicates that it’s type A influenza, while the rest outlines its strain.

Deeble said people don’t need to change how they cook their meat, as long as they’re not eating it rare. He noted that “cooking to — I believe it was 120° Fahrenheit — showed that there was virus still in the cooked hamburger patty, but at much, much reduced levels.” And he told reporters that folks should look at the USDA’s “Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart,” which tells what temperatures are safe for a variety of meats, eggs and casseroles, among other food items that should be cooked.

The USDA is taking samples from dairy cows that had some respiratory symptoms when they were slaughtered because they were infected with avian flu. What is found in that testing will be announced when it’s completed.

Milk as cause or cure

Asked during the question-and-answer segment of the press call about reports that people were drinking raw milk in hopes of becoming immune to the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, Deeble repeated the agency’s position that people should not drink raw milk at all. Pasteurized milk is safer because the heating process is designed to kill any pathogens.

“Raw milk is unsafe at any speed,” said Deeble, “and the notion that you could protect yourself against H5 infection by consuming it is erroneous. There are much safer ways to protect oneself.” He did note that agency research found no indication that raw milk from any of the 49 infected herds has been sold. The number of herds identified with bird flu infection has probably risen, he added, because of testing, rather than new infections.

Earlier testing of pasteurized milk sold in local stores showed the heating process is effective and the milk is safe to drink, per health officials.

Tests and grants

Forbes created a timeline of recent events in the bird flu outbreak. Among those events, it reports that “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released influenza A wastewater data for the weeks ending in April 27 and May 4, and found several states like Alaska, California, Florida, Illinois and Kansas had unusually high levels, though the agency isn’t sure if the virus came from humans or animals, and isn’t able to differentiate between influenza A subtypes, meaning the H5N1 virus or other subtypes may have been detected.”

Forbes also noted that on May 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced plans to award an extra $8 million to make sure commercial milk supply is safe, “while the Department of Agriculture said it will pay up to $28,000 per farm to help mitigate the spread of the disease, totaling around $98 million in funds.”

Mammals and bird flu

The World Health Organization reports that between 2003 through April 1, 2024, there have been 889 human cases of H5N1 and 463 deaths (52%) from that strain of bird flu, across 23 countries.

Symptoms range from mild to death, health officials said. There have been two cases in the United States, neither one with severe symptoms. The most recent, in Texas, was directly related to the outbreak in dairy cattle but the person just suffered conjunctivitis, with red, itchy, watery eyes.

As Deseret News reported in April, “Avian influenza in the United States has been detected in big cats, mountain lions, bobcats, brown bears, black bears and polar bears, bottlenose dolphins, grey seals, harbor seals, red foxes, coyotes, fishers, American martens, North American river otters, raccoons, skunks, Virginia possums and Abert’s squirrels. There have been outbreaks in cattle and in mink. But most of the wild mammal infections are considered ‘dead end,’ meaning a mammal ate an infected bird, got infected and died without contributing to spread of the virus.”

It has reportedly killed tens of thousands of marine mammals, not to mention the thousands and thousands of animals in the poultry and dairy industries that either sickened and died or had to be killed.

Health officials still say the risk to humans is low. That could change if the virus mutates in a way that helps it spread across species more easily.