H5N1 influenza virus continues to infect dairy cows in the United States, causing concern about potential spillover into humans. Though pasteurization effectively kills the virus, a significant portion of commercial milk still contains viral components, leading scientists to worry that regularly drinking these inactivated viral components could teach the immune system that these molecules were safe, resulting in greater susceptibility to later influenza infections. St. Jude researchers found that consuming pasteurized H5N1-infected milk had no impact on flu immunity in model systems.

In Vietnam, like many countries around the world, modern food retail is expanding, food is becoming more processed and packaged, and unhealthy food marketing is pervasive across physical and digital spaces. These shifts deliver convenience and (in some cases) safer handling, but they also make less healthy options easier to find and harder to avoid. A new study by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, along with their colleagues, maps these changes and the policy responses and proposes a more robust framework for a faster response.