Commonground
Senior Moderator
February 12, 2025
Harrisburg, PA – Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding announced today that Pennsylvania’s dairy industry has reached a critical “stage four” milestone granting HPAI-free status in the USDA’s National Milk Testing Strategy, making Pennsylvania the first major U.S. dairy-producing state to achieve this status. The designation indicates that Pennsylvania’s milk supply has been tested adequately to rule out the presence of the virus in the state’s dairy cattle.
This achievement is the result of months of collaboration among the Department of Agriculture and federal, industry, and academic partners. While Pennsylvania is the first major U.S. dairy-producing state to achieve this status, the department will continue testing of bulk milk, due to the lingering disease threats in other states.
Since Pennsylvania began to require testing of bulk milk samples in late November, 2024, Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System (PADLS) labs have tested more than 22,000 samples, representing nearly 100% of the state’s 4,784 dairy farms. In addition to initiating testing requirements and restrictions for transporting dairy cattle into Pennsylvania following the first detection of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in dairy cattle in Texas in March 2024, Pennsylvania was also one of the first states to implement a voluntary program for testing lactating dairy cattle.
-snip-
No infections in dairy cattle or humans have been detected in Pennsylvania to date.
...https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pda/new...s--hpai-free--status-after-aggressive-mi.html
Harrisburg, PA – Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding announced today that Pennsylvania’s dairy industry has reached a critical “stage four” milestone granting HPAI-free status in the USDA’s National Milk Testing Strategy, making Pennsylvania the first major U.S. dairy-producing state to achieve this status. The designation indicates that Pennsylvania’s milk supply has been tested adequately to rule out the presence of the virus in the state’s dairy cattle.
This achievement is the result of months of collaboration among the Department of Agriculture and federal, industry, and academic partners. While Pennsylvania is the first major U.S. dairy-producing state to achieve this status, the department will continue testing of bulk milk, due to the lingering disease threats in other states.
Since Pennsylvania began to require testing of bulk milk samples in late November, 2024, Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System (PADLS) labs have tested more than 22,000 samples, representing nearly 100% of the state’s 4,784 dairy farms. In addition to initiating testing requirements and restrictions for transporting dairy cattle into Pennsylvania following the first detection of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in dairy cattle in Texas in March 2024, Pennsylvania was also one of the first states to implement a voluntary program for testing lactating dairy cattle.
-snip-
No infections in dairy cattle or humans have been detected in Pennsylvania to date.
...https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pda/new...s--hpai-free--status-after-aggressive-mi.html
