Fifteen additional states have enrolled in the National Milk Testing Strategy (NMTS), bringing the total number of states to 28 approximately one month since the program launched, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced. These 28 states represent nearly 65% of the nation’s milk production.
The 15 states newly enrolled in the strategy are Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Iowa, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia. The addition of 15 states brings USDA closer to conducting mandatory, nationwide bulk milk surveillance in all 48 contiguous states.
“Across the country, a strong network of public and private veterinarians, as well as state and local agriculture and health officials, have been working hand-in-hand with USDA to make the National Milk Testing Strategy as robust a weapon as possible in our fight against H5N1, and to ensure farmers have the information and tools they need to protect their businesses, their families, their workers and, ultimately, their communities,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “USDA remains fully committed to working with farmers and our public health partners to evolve our strategy based on our latest findings so we can keep people and animals safe from this virus.”
This is the third tranche of states to enroll in the NMTS, which will give the USDA and state and federal partners a clearer picture of the presence of H5N1 among dairy herds in the United States to help inform the strategy and overall response efforts to prevent further spread of the virus.
The second round of states brought into the testing strategy in mid-December were Indiana, Maryland, Montana, New York, Ohio, Vermont and Washington. The first round of states included California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania, which started testing in early December.
The National Milk Testing Strategy involves five stages that describe the state’s testing activity and the presence of H5N1 in that state. Of the 28 states now enrolled, 11 states are considered to be in Stage 2, meaning they have state-level bulk tank sampling programs already underway. California is considered to be in Stage 3, meaning that it is an affected state that has rapid response measures in place to address detections. Two states are in Stage 1, meaning that silo testing is underway or is set to begin imminently. As new states join and initiate testing, USDA will update their status on its National Milk Testing Strategy website and map.
Testing results from the National Milk Testing Strategy will be included in the routine testing reports shared by APHIS.
