Raw Milk Cheese May Retain Avian Influenza Virus
(MENAFN) Cheese produced from raw milk contaminated with the avian influenza virus could still harbor traces of the pathogen, posing potential food safety risks, reports stated on Tuesday.
A team of researchers from Cornell University and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discovered that the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus could remain in certain cheese products even after the usual 60-day aging period required for raw milk cheeses, according to Science Daily.
Diego Diel, a virology professor at Cornell and the study’s lead author, explained that "this research was initiated due to previous work demonstrating high levels of virus shedding in milk from infected cows," as quoted by the media outlet.
Under the FDA’s regulations, raw milk cheese must be aged for a minimum of 60 days at or above 35 degrees Fahrenheit (1.7 degrees Celsius) to help reduce bacterial risks.
However, the study revealed that the virus remained active for up to 120 days at 39°F (4°C) in some cheese samples.
The research also emphasized the importance of cheese acidity in deactivating the virus. It was found that no infectious virus was present in samples with a pH level of 5 or lower, such as feta cheese, which naturally has high acidity.
On the other hand, cheeses with pH levels ranging from 5.8 to 6.6 were found to retain the virus.
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