Testing of Retail Cheese, Butter, Ice Cream, and Other Dairy Products for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in the US
The recent outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in dairy cows has created public health concerns about the potential of consumers being exposed to live virus from commercial dairy products. Previous studies support that pasteurization effectively inactivates avian influenza in milk a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Food Protection |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0362028X24002151 |
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| author | David L. Suarez Iryna V. Goraichuk Lindsay Killmaster Erica Spackman Nicole J. Clausen Tristan J. Colonius Cynthia L. Leonard Monica L. Metz |
| author_facet | David L. Suarez Iryna V. Goraichuk Lindsay Killmaster Erica Spackman Nicole J. Clausen Tristan J. Colonius Cynthia L. Leonard Monica L. Metz |
| author_sort | David L. Suarez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The recent outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in dairy cows has created public health concerns about the potential of consumers being exposed to live virus from commercial dairy products. Previous studies support that pasteurization effectively inactivates avian influenza in milk and an earlier retail milk survey showed viral RNA, but no live virus could be detected in the dairy products tested. Because of the variety of products and processing methods in which milk is used, additional product testing was conducted to determine if HPAI viral RNA could be detected in retail dairy samples, and for positive samples by quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) further testing for the presence of live virus. Revised protocols were developed to extract RNA from solid dairy products including cheese and butter. The solid dairy product was mechanically liquified with garnet and zirconium beads in a bead beater diluted 1–4 with BHI media. This preprocessing step was suitable in allowing efficient RNA extraction with standard methods. Trial studies were conducted with different cheese types with spiked-in avian influenza virus to show that inoculation of the liquified cheese into embryonating chicken eggs was not toxic to the embryos and allowed virus replication. A total of 167 retail dairy samples, including a variety of cheeses, butter, ice cream, and fluid milk were collected as part of a nationwide survey. A total of 17.4% (29/167) of the samples had detectable viral RNA by qRT-PCR targeting the matrix gene, but all PCR-positive samples were negative for live virus after testing with embryonating egg inoculation. The viral RNA was also evaluated by sequencing part of the hemagglutinin gene using a revised protocol optimized to deal with the fragmented viral RNA. The sequence analysis showed all viral RNA-positive samples were highly similar to previously reported HPAI dairy cow isolates. Using the revised protocols, it was determined that HPAI viral RNA could be detected in a variety of dairy products, but existing pasteurization methods effectively inactivate the virus assuring consumer safety. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-88e4ac8057b84b0c899635ddfc454053 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0362-028X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Food Protection |
| spelling | doaj-art-88e4ac8057b84b0c899635ddfc4540532025-01-09T06:12:37ZengElsevierJournal of Food Protection0362-028X2025-01-01881100431Testing of Retail Cheese, Butter, Ice Cream, and Other Dairy Products for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in the USDavid L. Suarez0Iryna V. Goraichuk1Lindsay Killmaster2Erica Spackman3Nicole J. Clausen4Tristan J. Colonius5Cynthia L. Leonard6Monica L. Metz7Exotic and Emerging Avian Viral Disease Research Unit, Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, United States National Poultry Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, 934 College Station Rd, Athens, GA 30605, USA; Corresponding author.Exotic and Emerging Avian Viral Disease Research Unit, Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, United States National Poultry Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, 934 College Station Rd, Athens, GA 30605, USAExotic and Emerging Avian Viral Disease Research Unit, Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, United States National Poultry Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, 934 College Station Rd, Athens, GA 30605, USAExotic and Emerging Avian Viral Disease Research Unit, Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, United States National Poultry Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, 934 College Station Rd, Athens, GA 30605, USAOffice of Regulatory Affairs, United States Food and Drug Administration, White Oak, Maryland, USACenter for Veterinary Medicine, United States Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland, USACenter of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, United States Food and Drug Administration, College Park, Maryland, USACenter of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, United States Food and Drug Administration, College Park, Maryland, USAThe recent outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in dairy cows has created public health concerns about the potential of consumers being exposed to live virus from commercial dairy products. Previous studies support that pasteurization effectively inactivates avian influenza in milk and an earlier retail milk survey showed viral RNA, but no live virus could be detected in the dairy products tested. Because of the variety of products and processing methods in which milk is used, additional product testing was conducted to determine if HPAI viral RNA could be detected in retail dairy samples, and for positive samples by quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) further testing for the presence of live virus. Revised protocols were developed to extract RNA from solid dairy products including cheese and butter. The solid dairy product was mechanically liquified with garnet and zirconium beads in a bead beater diluted 1–4 with BHI media. This preprocessing step was suitable in allowing efficient RNA extraction with standard methods. Trial studies were conducted with different cheese types with spiked-in avian influenza virus to show that inoculation of the liquified cheese into embryonating chicken eggs was not toxic to the embryos and allowed virus replication. A total of 167 retail dairy samples, including a variety of cheeses, butter, ice cream, and fluid milk were collected as part of a nationwide survey. A total of 17.4% (29/167) of the samples had detectable viral RNA by qRT-PCR targeting the matrix gene, but all PCR-positive samples were negative for live virus after testing with embryonating egg inoculation. The viral RNA was also evaluated by sequencing part of the hemagglutinin gene using a revised protocol optimized to deal with the fragmented viral RNA. The sequence analysis showed all viral RNA-positive samples were highly similar to previously reported HPAI dairy cow isolates. Using the revised protocols, it was determined that HPAI viral RNA could be detected in a variety of dairy products, but existing pasteurization methods effectively inactivate the virus assuring consumer safety.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0362028X24002151CheeseDairy cowsHighly pathogenic avian influenzaMilkRetail dairy sample surveyZoonotic infection |
| spellingShingle | David L. Suarez Iryna V. Goraichuk Lindsay Killmaster Erica Spackman Nicole J. Clausen Tristan J. Colonius Cynthia L. Leonard Monica L. Metz Testing of Retail Cheese, Butter, Ice Cream, and Other Dairy Products for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in the US Journal of Food Protection Cheese Dairy cows Highly pathogenic avian influenza Milk Retail dairy sample survey Zoonotic infection |
| title | Testing of Retail Cheese, Butter, Ice Cream, and Other Dairy Products for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in the US |
| title_full | Testing of Retail Cheese, Butter, Ice Cream, and Other Dairy Products for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in the US |
| title_fullStr | Testing of Retail Cheese, Butter, Ice Cream, and Other Dairy Products for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in the US |
| title_full_unstemmed | Testing of Retail Cheese, Butter, Ice Cream, and Other Dairy Products for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in the US |
| title_short | Testing of Retail Cheese, Butter, Ice Cream, and Other Dairy Products for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in the US |
| title_sort | testing of retail cheese butter ice cream and other dairy products for highly pathogenic avian influenza in the us |
| topic | Cheese Dairy cows Highly pathogenic avian influenza Milk Retail dairy sample survey Zoonotic infection |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0362028X24002151 |
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