No US farms have signed up for voluntary on-site milk testing, established by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in response to the bird flu outbreak in dairy herds there.

Media in the US report that as, of the beginning of this week, no farms had come forward to take part in the measure, which was announced and allocated federal funding on 30 May. To date, the H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza has been identified in dairy cows in 12 states.

Australia

Meanwhile, in the Australian state of Victoria the H7N3 strain of the virus has now spread to six poultry farms, with H7N9 found on another Victorian poultry farm.

Around 1m chickens, 5% of Australia’s egg-laying flock, have or will be culled on impacted farms, the government has said.