Avian Flu Diary: Canada: Food Inspection Agency Not Currently Testing Milk For HPAI

#18,026

Late yesterday I mentioned that Sky News reported the UK was not planning on testing cows for HPAI, and that I had found no mention of doing so in Mexico. Although testing remains far less than it should be here in the U.S., elsewhere it appears almost nonexistent.

Overnight Canada's Food Inspection Agency weighed in (see Twitter/X msg above), stating that they aren't testing milk, but aren't worried because they haven't detected the virus in cattle and `pasteurization kills harmful bacteria and viruses'

It isn't clear from this post whether they are actively testing cattle for HPAI (one hopes so) - and while the sale of unpasteurized milk has been illegal in Canada for more than 30 years - there is ample evidence that some degree of raw milk consumption continues.

A quick web search shows numerous groups supporting the legalization of selling raw milk in Canada, and various forums discussing how to get around the law. You'll also find occasional news reports of farms fined for selling raw milk.

A 2023 report in the PHAC CCDR (Public health risks of raw milk consumption:Lessons from a case of paediatric hemolytic uremic syndrome) cited:

Between 2005 and 2013, 263 confirmed cases of enteric and zoonotic illnesses in Canada were attributed to the consumption of raw milk products 3. This number is likely an underestimate, as the vast majority of enteric illnesses often do not present to health care or are tested to a confirmatory extent; literature has identified that there may be nearly 25 times the number of unreported cases of illness as compared to confirmed cases in at least one jurisdiction in the United States 4. According to a 2017 study, unpasteurized dairy products cause 840 times more illnesses and 45 times more hospitalizations than pasteurized products, making raw milk a dangerous food 4

Given this illicit trade - even if we assume pasteurization effectively inactivates the virus - it would seem worth knowing if the virus was in the milk supply, if for no other reason than to issue a stronger warnings about the dangers of raw milk consumption.

Right now, agencies like the USDA and FDA are dealing with the fallout from their initial passive response following the detection of H5N1 in cattle a month ago. It seems incredible that other countries are willing to follow in their footsteps.

A decade ago, my two favorite risk communications experts Peter Sandman and Jody Lanard wrote about the unprecedented Ebola outbreak in West Central Africa, and the world's Failures Of Imagination in grasping its potential impact.

While their essay dealt with a specific time, place, and pathogen, it's lessons can be applied to our current - and probably any future - pandemic threat. We revisited that essay in early 2020, when the world was still in deep denial about the spread of COVID, and it is well worth reading again today.

It seems - no matter how much we may talk about theoretical risks - when a credible threat actually does emerge, the first `official' instinct is to deny or down play the risk.

Now would be a very good time for risk communicators to spend a few hours reviewing the sage advice offered on the Sandman Risk Communications Website. There's a lot to absorb, so pack a lunch.

If you don't have time, at least go read the 2009 essay by Peter Sandman: Swine Flu For Grownups, and the 9 rules that every risk communicator should live by:

Don’t feign confidence
Don’t over-reassure
Don’t worry about panic
Don’t obsess over accusations of fear-mongering
Don’t fight the adjustment reaction.
Don’t oversell what the government is doing
Don’t oversell what the public can do
Don’t ask the impossible
Don’t neglect the teachable moment

Four years ago, I asked what I intended to be a rhetorical question in this blog about our lack of preparedness for COVID:

The $64 question is whether we'll learn from this, and immediately begin to prepare for the next one. Or if we will we just go back to sleep, and hope the next one doesn't come on our watch.