In an effort to contain the recent outbreak of bird flu, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has implemented new regulations for lactating dairy cows. As of Monday, April 29, the cows must test negative for the virus before being transported across state lines. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported on Friday, April 26, that initial tests on milk, conducted using gold-standard PCR tests, revealed the pasteurization effectively kills the bird flu virus. Colorado has become the ninth state to confirm cases of infected dairy herds. Additionally, the USDA announced plans to test retail beef samples using PCR…