FDA: Heat kills bird flu virus in cow milk

NEW YORK — A new study that re-created commercial pasteurization in a government lab provides reassurance that heat treatment kills bird flu virus in cow’s milk, U.S. officials said Friday.

When the bird flu known as H5N1 was first detected in U.S. dairy cows this year, there were no studies of whether heat treatment killed the virus in cows milk. But officials were comforted by studies showing that the pasteurization of eggs — which involves heating at a lower temperatures and for a shorter amount of time — worked, the FDA said.

A study in April found that there was no evidence of infectious, live virus in store-bought samples of pasteurized milk, although the purchased milk did contain dead remnants of it. — Associated Press