Feds testing ground beef sold where dairy cows were stricken by bird flu

The government is now testing samples of ground beef sold in retail stores in the nine states where outbreaks of highly virulent bird flu have occurred in dairy cows, while offering assurances that U.S. meat is safe, the USDA said on Monday.

The effort comes after samples of pasteurized milk from around the country tested positive for inactive remnants of the virus known as H5N1, with those samples taken after the the virus was confirmed in dairy herds in nine states: Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas. 

The agency also plans to sample infected beef muscles from culled dairy cows to study whether cooking ground beef reduces the H5N1 virus.