Killing H5N1 in waste milk — an alternative to pasteurization

Milk acidification provides easy way for dairy farms to contain bird flu virus

2025-02-13

(Press-News.org) Pasteurization is the only widely recognized method of killing H5N1, the virus that causes bird flu, in milk. However, pasteurization can be expensive and fewer than 50% of large dairy farms pasteurize waste milk.

Waste milk includes colostrum, the first milk after calving; milk from cows treated with antibiotics or other drugs; or any other factor that can make milk unsuitable and unsellable for human consumption. On farms, raw waste milk poses a potential risk of spreading avian flu, which so far has been confirmed in dairy cattle in 16 states.

University of California, Davis, researchers have found that acidification can kill H5N1 in waste milk, providing dairy farmers an affordable, easy-to-use alternative to pasteurization of waste milk. The Journal of Dairy Science published the study.

“There can be a quite significant cost to have pasteurization as an option on the farm,” said co-corresponding author and veterinary epidemiologist Richard Van Vleck Pereira, with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “In our laboratory tests, we found that acidifying milk to a pH of 4.1 to 4.2 with citric acid effectively deactivates the virus.”

The UC Davis research team will next conduct on-farm testing of milk acidification in waste milk containing H5N1. They will develop practical guidelines for farmers to implement acidification of waste milk as a protocol on the farm.

A sustainable solution Pereira said citric acid is inexpensive. Acidified waste milk is also safe to be used to feed pre-weaned calves. The acidification process takes only six hours to fully kill the virus and doesn’t require refrigeration, further reducing costs and increasing safety of farm workers handling milk.

Hobby farmers milking one or two cows or large commercial dairy farms could implement milk acidification without having to invest in large equipment.

“When we started this project, we were carefully thinking about not just deactivating the virus but developing a method that could be affordable, accessible and sustainable for farmers to use,” he said.

Some U.S. dairy farms already practice milk acidification. Lowering milk pH to a level unsuitable for bacterial growth can kill bad bugs and prevent contamination without causing health issues in calves.

“We believe acidification is a novel and effective way to contain the spread of H5N1 on dairy farms and help protect livestock, pets and people,” Periera said.

Other authors of the study include Beate Crossley and Daniel Rejmanek from the California Animal Health and Food Safety Lab at UC Davis, along with Craig Miramontes and Rodrigo Gallardo with the Department of Population Health and Reproduction at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture and the United States Department of Agriculture funded the research.

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

NTT Research and Harvard scientists optimize biohybrid ray development with machine learning

2025-02-13

The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT, announced the publication of research showing an application of machine-learning directed optimization (ML-DO) that efficiently searches for high-performance design configurations in the context of biohybrid robots. Applying a machine learning approach, the researchers created mini biohybrid rays made of cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells) and rubber with a wingspan of about 10 mm that are approximately two times more efficient at swimming than those recently ...

Mapping connections in a neuronal network

2025-02-13

Harvard researchers have mapped and catalogued more than 70,000 synaptic connections from about 2,000 rat neurons, using a silicon chip capable of recording small yet telltale synaptic signals from a large number of neurons. The research, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, is a major advance in neuronal recording and may help bring scientists a step closer to drawing a detailed synaptic connection map of the brain. Higher-order brain functions are believed to be derived from the ways brain ...

Study: Air pollution exposure late in pregnancy increases NICU admission risk

2025-02-13

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Air pollution caused by auto emissions, wildfires and other sources is problematic for many people. It’s of particular concern for pregnant people due to the impact pollutants can have on the fetus, especially in the final month before birth. A new study from the University at Buffalo offers insight into air pollution’s effects during this vulnerable time by measuring neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions and satellite-based air pollution data. The researchers focused on common pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels in vehicles, industrial processes and power plants, and PM2.5, which ...

Engineers enable a drone to determine its position in the dark and indoors

2025-02-13

CAMBRIDGE, MA – In the future, autonomous drones could be used to shuttle inventory between large warehouses. A drone might fly into a semi-dark structure the size of several football fields, zipping along hundreds of identical aisles before docking at the precise spot where its shipment is needed. Most of today’s drones would likely struggle to complete this task, since drones typically navigate outdoors using GPS, which doesn’t work in indoor environments. For indoor navigation, some drones ...

U-M materials scientist, chemical engineer elected into National Academy of Engineering

2025-02-13

Photos Michigan Engineering professors Elizabeth Holm and Nicholas Kotov are among the newest members of the National Academy of Engineering—one of the highest honors bestowed on engineers in the United States. "Elizabeth Holm and Nicholas Kotov have not only distinguished themselves as leaders in their fields, they have demonstrated the impact we can have as engineers, influencing how current and future generations of engineers solve problems and do their work," said Karen Thole, the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering at the University of Michigan College of Engineering. "We applaud this significant honor, and look forward ...

Evolutionary tradeoffs: Research explores the role of iron levels in COVID-19 infections

2025-02-13

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Your body is ground zero for a cellular arms race. Your mitochondria, red blood cells and immune system rely on iron to function; so do invading viruses and bacteria. As your body evolves safeguards for this most critical resource, these safeguards select for invaders that can overcome them. “Iron is physiologically useful in catalyzing reactions, such as binding oxygen, because it both donates and accepts electrons,” explained Binghamton University Associate Professor of Anthropology ...

Ecological Society of America selects 2025 EEE Scholars

2025-02-13

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) announces the 2025 cohort of ESA Excellence in Ecology (EEE) Scholars. This prestigious scholarship program celebrates and supports outstanding early- to mid-career Ph.D. ecologists from groups traditionally underrepresented in the scientific community. This year’s EEE Scholars are: Elvira D'Bastiani, Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles; Gabriela Garcia, Assistant Professor at Northeastern University; Camille Griffith, Assistant Professor at Oglala Lakota College; and Estelí Jiménez-Soto, Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida. “These exceptional scholars embody ...

U.S. stream network is longer during annual high-flow conditions

2025-02-13

Rivers and streams may look permanent, but their lengths can change dramatically with the seasons, according to a new study. It reports that stream networks in the United States expand up to five times their low-flow size during wet conditions. The findings offer the first large-scale insights into how water dynamically moves through landscapes and provide a framework for forecasting climate-driven changes in stream networks, particularly in response to increasing storminess. Traditionally regarded as ...

Seismic techniques reveal how intense storms in 2023 impacted aquifers in Greater Los Angeles

2025-02-13

Despite record rainfall in the region in early 2023, only a fraction of Southern California’s groundwater reserves has been replenished, researchers report. Their study, which leverages seismic noise data from across Greater Los Angeles, highlights the urgent need for improved monitoring and management of the state’s critical groundwater reserves. After enduring two decades of severe drought, California experienced an abrupt meteorological shift in water in 2023. A succession of 16 atmospheric rivers from late 2022 through early 2023, followed by the torrential ...

Elephant seals in the Pacific serve as deep-ocean sentinels, revealing patterns otherwise hard to measure

2025-02-13

Northern elephant seals may hold the key to unlocking the secrets of the open ocean’s twilight zone (~200 – 1,000 meters deep). According to a new study, these deep-diving creatures can help estimate fish abundance by providing a rare window into the elusive prey dynamics in one of the planet’s most mysterious and remote ecosystems. Ecosystems are dynamic, with resource fluctuations – natural or human-induced – shaping species interactions and food webs. These processes are well studied in terrestrial ecosystems but not in deep, open ocean ecosystems, ...

Inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 upregulates the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 signaling pathway to mitigate hepatocyte ferroptosis in chronic liver injury

Killing H5N1 in waste milk — an alternative to pasteurization

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: