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Traces of bird flu have been detected in pasteurized milk — leaving many people wondering if it’s safe to drink.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a notice on Thursday stating that one in five retail samples of commercial milk tested positive for fragments of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), more commonly known as bird flu or avian flu.

The share of milk with viral remnants was higher in areas where herds of cattle had been infected.

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The presence of the virus in the milk doesn’t necessarily mean there is a risk to consumers, however, the FDA noted.

“Additional testing is required to determine whether an intact pathogen is still present and if it remains infectious, which would help inform a determination of whether there is any risk of illness associated with consuming the product,” the agency stated.

“Although bird flu viruses do not normally infect humans, sporadic human infections have occurred,” the FDA stated in the alert.

Pasteurization eliminates risk, experts say

Before milk can be sold commercially, government regulations require that it is pasteurized.

During the pasteurization process, raw milk is heated to a certain temperature for a brief period of time and is then chilled again, according to the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) website.

This process kills any pathogens and ensures that milk is safe to drink.

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Dr. Scott Pegan, professor of biomedical sciences at the University of California, Riverside and a biochemist for the United States Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense, said the FDA’s finding does not mean there is any direct risks to consumers.

“In the U.S., commercial intrastate sold milk is required to be pasteurized,” he told Fox News Digital. “This process is geared to kill viruses like H5N1 and other bacteria that can pose a threat to human health.”

A milk pasteurization system is shown at a food and drink exhibition. Pasteurization is a process that kills microbes in food and drink, such as milk, juice, canned food and others. (iStock)

“Milk that has been pasteurized is safe and there is no current reason to avoid it or other pasteurized milk products based on the FDA’s findings,” Pegan went on. 

“However, there is a substantial risk of consuming unpasteurized milk and products of that milk.”

Even after viruses and bacteria have been killed in pasteurized milk, remnants can remain in the milk, he said — but they are not dangerous.

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Edward Liu, M.D., chief of infectious diseases at Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center in New Jersey, agreed that there is not a risk associated with drinking pasteurized milk.

“The pasteurization is the key — the heat treatment kills off the viruses,” he told Fox News Digital. “Although the FDA’s testing picked up fragments [of the virus], the heating process destroyed it, so it’s not able to infect people.”

The share of milk with viral remnants was higher in areas where herds of cattle had been infected. (iStock)

The fragments alone are not enough to cause any kind of infection, he confirmed.

“I think the key word is ‘fragments.’ Just like with COVID, if you do a PCR test a month later, we’ll detect little fragments of the virus, but it’s not active anymore,” Liu said. 

“So if the virus isn’t entirely intact, it shouldn’t be able to infect you.”

Any sporadic cases of human infection would likely occur when a farmer is handling birds directly, Liu said.

Consumers should avoid drinking raw milk that has not been pasteurized, the FDA said.

“There are some people who like to go all natural, but pasteurization has been used for decades for safety,” he said. “Some degree of processing is actually better and safer for us.”

Animals pose greater concern, experts say

The “indirect concern” within the scientific and medical community involves the increased risk of “spillover” to humans from animals with the H5N1 virus, said Pegan. 

“Prior to the outbreak in dairy cattle, this concern principally revolved around the risk of transmission to humans from wild birds or poultry,” he told Fox News Digital.

The “indirect concern” within the scientific and medical community involves the increased risk of “spillover” to humans from animals with the H5N1 virus, one expert said. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo)

“The presence of H5N1 avian flu in the milk of these cattle shows that cattle may be able to provide a new reservoir for this virus, increasing the odds of exposure to those in direct contact with the infected cattle.”

The more animals that are infected, the higher chance that humans may come in direct contact with the virus — which likely would lead to a greater number of human cases, said Pegan. 

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“The case of cattle-to-human transmission seen in Texas is in line with this concern,” he noted. 

“Also, the more mammals infected increases the chances that the virus will adapt to other mammals, such as humans.”

FDA’s recommendations

The FDA restated its “long-standing recommendation” that consumers avoid drinking raw milk that has not been pasteurized. 

The agency also recommends that companies refrain from manufacturing or selling raw milk or raw milk products made with milk from cows that tested positive for bird flu, were exposed to the virus or showed symptoms of illness.

“Over the past few years, there has been an increased consumer demand for these unpasteurized products,” Pegan said. 

The FDA restated its “long-standing recommendation” that consumers avoid drinking raw milk that has not been pasteurized.  (iStock)

“While not allowed to be sold via interstate brands, some states have relaxed local sales of these products at farmer’s markets and similar outlets,” he said. 

“Individuals may want to avoid those unpasteurized products until more information is obtained about this H5N1 avian flu outbreak in dairy cattle.”

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The FDA also urged producers to “take precautions” when discarding milk from affected cows, “so that the discarded milk does not become a source of further spread.”

So far, only one person has been confirmed to have contracted the virus after exposure to infected cows, the FDA stated.

“The CDC says the risk to the general public remains low,” the agency said.

“The FDA and USDA continue to indicate that, based on the information we currently have, our commercial milk supply is safe.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the National Milk Producers Federation, the American Dairy Association and the International Dairy Foods Association for comment.

For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health.

• Lisa Pisano faced heart and kidney failure, rendering her ineligible for traditional transplants, but a pioneering procedure at NYU Langone Health offered hope.
• Doctors implanted a mechanical heart pump to stabilize Pisano’s failing heart, followed by a kidney transplant from a genetically modified pig.
• Pisano’s recovery is progressing well, marking a significant advancement in animal-to-human transplantation.

Doctors have transplanted a pig kidney into a New Jersey woman who was near death, part of a dramatic pair of surgeries that also stabilized her failing heart.

Lisa Pisano’s combination of heart and kidney failure left her too sick to qualify for a traditional transplant, and out of options. Then doctors at NYU Langone Health devised a novel one-two punch: Implant a mechanical pump to keep her heart beating and days later transplant a kidney from a genetically modified pig.

Pisano is recovering well, the NYU team announced Wednesday. She’s only the second patient ever to receive a pig kidney — following a landmark transplant last month at Massachusetts General Hospital – and the latest in a string of attempts to make animal-to-human transplantation a reality.

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This week, the 54-year-old grasped a walker and took her first few steps.

“I was at the end of my rope,” Pisano told The Associated Press. “I just took a chance. And you know, worst case scenario, if it didn’t work for me, it might have worked for someone else and it could have helped the next person.”

Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of NYU Langone Transplant Institute, recounted cheers in the operating room as the organ immediately started making urine.

“It’s been transformative,” Montgomery said of the experiment’s early results.

But “we’re not off the hook yet,” cautioned Dr. Nader Moazami, the NYU cardiac surgeon who implanted the heart pump.

“With this surgery I get to see my wife smile again,” Pisano’s husband Todd said Wednesday.

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Other transplant experts are closely watching how the patient fares.

“I have to congratulate them,” said Dr. Tatsuo Kawai of Mass General, who noted that his own pig kidney patient was healthier overall going into his operation than NYU’s patient. “When the heart function is bad, it’s really difficult to do a kidney transplant.”

THE PIG ORGAN QUEST

More than 100,000 people are on the U.S. transplant waiting list, most who need a kidney, and thousands die waiting. In hopes of filling the shortage of donated organs, several biotech companies are genetically modifying pigs so their organs are more humanlike, less likely to be destroyed by people’s immune system.

NYU and other research teams have temporarily transplanted pig kidneys and hearts into brain-dead bodies, with promising results. Then the University of Maryland transplanted pig hearts into two men who were out of other options, and both died within months.

Mass General’s pig kidney transplant last month raised new hopes. Kawai said Richard “Rick” Slayman experienced an early rejection scare but bounced back enough to go home earlier this month and still is faring well five weeks post-transplant. A recent biopsy showed no further problems.

A COMPLEX CASE AT NYU

Pisano is the first woman to receive a pig organ — and unlike with prior xenotransplant experiments, both her heart and kidneys had failed. She went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated before the experimental surgeries. She’d gotten too weak to even play with her grandchildren. “I was miserable,” the Cookstown, New Jersey, woman said.

A failed heart made her ineligible for a traditional kidney transplant. But while on dialysis, she didn’t qualify for a heart pump, called a left ventricular assist device or LVAD, either.

“It’s like being in a maze and you can’t find a way out,” Montgomery explained — until the surgeons decided to pair a heart pump with a pig kidney.

TWO SURGERIES IN EIGHT DAYS

With emergency permission from the Food and Drug Administration, Montgomery chose an organ from a pig genetically engineered by United Therapeutics Corp. so its cells don’t produce a particular sugar that’s foreign to the human body and triggers immediate organ rejection.

Plus a tweak: The donor pig’s thymus gland, which trains the immune system, was attached to the donated kidney in hopes that it would help Pisano’s body tolerate the new organ.

Surgeons implanted the LVAD to power Pisano’s heart on April 4, and transplanted the pig kidney on April 12. There’s no way to predict her long-term outcome but she’s shown no sign of organ rejection so far, Montgomery said. And in adjusting the LVAD to work with her new kidney, Moazami said doctors already have learned lessons that could help future care of heart-and-kidney patients.

Special “compassionate use” experiments teach doctors a lot but it will take rigorous studies to prove if xenotransplants really work. What happens with Pisano and Mass General’s kidney recipient will undoubtedly influence FDA’s decision to allow such trials. United Therapeutics said it hopes to begin one next year.