During the Wednesday, May 1 White House Press Conference, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre gave a wild response to a question about the potential risk an avian flu epidemic poses to the meat and milk supply in the United States. In her response, KJP bizarrely managed to work in that she does not “consume any meat.”
As background, there have been bird blu epidemics in the United States in the spring of 2024, and the FDA has been testing milk samples for avian flu contamination. Though the tests have been overwhelmingly negative so far, it remains a worry. Asking about that problem during the press briefing, a reporter asked, “Karine, what’s your currently assessment of the risk to the U.S. milk and meat supply from the bird flu epidemic in cattle?”
Within the second sentence of her response, KJP had noted that she doesn’t eat meat, a response that drew scattered laughter from the press pool. She said, as the White House Briefing Room notes, “Yep. So, I know that the Department of Agriculture has been on top of this. I know that they are not seeing any — any concerns to — to milk or any of the cattle or the meat — or meat that we are be- — that we are consuming. Well, I don’t consume any meat, but some of you all — (laughter) — you out there.”
Continuing, she then vowed that the administration is taking the matter seriously, adding that as of now it appears that meat and milk are safe to consume. In her words, “And so, obviously they are taking this very seriously. They are monitoring the situation. As far as — as far as we understand it to be is that they believe that milk and — and consuming meat is safe.”
The reporter then asked if there is likely to be an inflationary impact stemming from this issue, asking, “And from an inflation standpoint, is there any concern that there might be supply disruptions in that area that might lead to higher prices?”
In response, she didn’t really answer the question. Instead, she pointed to Biden’t Covid-era “American Rescue Plan,” saying, “Well, as you know, you know, what — because of the pandemic, there was a supply chain disruption. The President took action — the American Rescue Plan — which only, obviously, Democrats voted for — the President signed — helped deal with supply chain.”
She continued, saying that the White House would monitor the problem but doesn’t yet know if there will be inflation resulting from the matter, “There is a — a task force that was created to deal — to make sure that, during the pandemic, that supply chain was dealt with in a way so that we can get out of this pandemic, get our — the economy — get back on our feet with the economy. Look, this is something we’re going to monitor. I don’t have anything to share on — on the question of inflation. We’re — obviously, we’re going to continue to closely monitor.”
Watch her here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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