The federal government and stakeholders are taking new precautions to help prevent the emergence of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Canadian dairy cattle.

The government recently announced its intention to expand its avian flu surveillance by:

• Requiring negative HPAI test results for lactating dairy cattle being imported from the United States to Canada.
• Conducting enhanced testing of milk at the retail level to look for viral fragments of HPAI.
• Facilitating the voluntary testing of cows that are not presenting clinical signs of HPAI to facilitate enhanced industry biosecurity efforts.

The announcement comes after HPAI fragments were found in U.S. milk April 23. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a new study revealed that the pasteurization of dairy products inactivates the virus that causes HPAI, even when fragments of the virus remain.

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