Federal government says it is testing ground beef for bird flu virus WFTV [Video]

The U.S. government is collecting samples of ground beef at retail stores in states with outbreaks of bird flu in dairy cows, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday.

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The agency said it would test for any signs of the virus, but remains confident the meat supply is safe, according to Reuters.

Federal officials announced last week that it had confirmed the H5N1 virus in 34 dairy cattle herds in nine states since late March, and in one person in Texas who had worked with the infected cows.

The Department of Agriculture announced it would be sampling ground beef purchased at grocery stores in states where dairy cattle have tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus.

It is also taking samples of muscle tissue from sick cows that have been culled from their herd and is conducting cooking studies, which will inoculate ground beef with a “virus surrogate” and cook it to different temperatures to see how much virus …