News: Largest US fresh egg producer halts production at Texas plant after bird flu found in chickens

[Arcadia]

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/avian-flu-found-in-chicken-eggs-in-texas/3504517/?amp=1
“The largest producer of fresh eggs in the United States said Tuesday that it has stopped production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens there.

Ridgeland, Mississippi-based Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. said in a statement that approximately 1.6 million laying hens and 337,000 pullets, about 3.6% of its total flock, were destroyed after the infection, avian influenza, was found at the facility in Parmer County, Texas.

… Cal-Maine Foods is working to secure production from other facilities to minimize disruption to its customers."

The company said there is no known bird flu risk associated with eggs that are currently in the market and no eggs have been recalled. Miller echoed the statement, saying the risk to the public is minimal.“

[prairiewindmomma]

Ridgeland shut down their Kansas facility in December due to avian flu, but didnt cull then. I wonder what has changed. 

[maize]

49 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Ridgeland shut down their Kansas facility in December due to avian flu, but didnt cull then. I wonder what has changed. 

Maybe different state regulations are in play?

[TechWife]

30 minutes ago, maize said:

Maybe different state regulations are in play?

FDA & USDA are joint regulators for eggs. The Texas Dept. of Agriculture enforces USDA egg regulations. The cull may have been voluntary. It seems unusual to me that it isn’t being stated. Either way, protecting consumers is a good thing. So, both complying with an order or voluntarily culling is a positive for consumers. It would seem one org or another would want credit. But, I rarely eat eggs so I don’t have any yolk in this game. 

https://www.fda.gov/food/guidance-documents-regulatory-information-topic-food-and-dietary-supplements/egg-guidance-regulation-and-other-information#:~:text=In general%2C the FDA regulates,and storage of shell eggs.

https://www.texasagriculture.gov/Regulatory-Programs/Egg-Quality-Program

 

 

[Katy]

It’s also possible that regulators are being more strict now that it’s transmitted in mammals and to at least one human. 

[ScoutTN]

Ugh.

Thankful for the local, small family farms (with pastured chickens) that we buy eggs from!

[Faith-manor]

We also have a major, huge producer in Michigan that has found bird flu as well. The scary thing is that this producer had pretty tippy top biosecurity procedures. They will be culling the flock beginning today if they haven't already. Millions of hens and chicks. My guess is that egg prices will go through the roof. Dd and I are buying 6 dozen today and scrambling them,and freezing in silicon ice cube trays. (They do not come out of the rigid plastic trays well.) Due to all of the food allergies in her family, she really needs eggs, one of the few things that no one in the family is allergic to and she bakes all their bread, muffins, etc. So she needs to have some eggs on hand in order to feed her family properly. Food allergies make everything so stinking difficult.

Michigan also has avian flu in a dairy herd. Cows usually come through it just fine so the current plan is to not cull that cow, but just see how it recovers while removed from production. I would imagine if more cows come down with it which would indicate the virus has mutated and become a cow to cow transmission, then the whole herd will at least be out of production and milk dumped, if not possibly a kill zone to prevent it from making it out and infecting another herd by riding on workers clothes and such.

[kbutton]

2 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

Ugh.

Thankful for the local, small family farms (with pastured chickens) that we buy eggs from!

I believe it’s been recommended that all poultry be under cover to avoid the bird flu since it starts with wild bird migration. If they don’t implement some bio security, they could lose their flock too. This is not just a problem for factory farms from what I understand.

 

[Faith-manor]

1 hour ago, kbutton said:

I believe it’s been recommended that all poultry be under cover to avoid the bird flu since it starts with wild bird migration. If they don’t implement some bio security, they could lose their flock too. This is not just a problem for factory farms from what I understand.

 

Agreed. Our 4H kids have to show they are following MSU bio security standards every time avian flu rears its ugly head. Pasture raised hens are at extreme risk due to exposure to wild birds who are the carriers. All egg producers regardless of size of operation or practice will be forced to follow protocols in order to try to tamp this down.

[prairiewindmomma]

There have been about 80 million birds culled in the US in the last couple of years due to avian flu.  We’ve gone through several rounds of crazy high egg prices/low availability due to local producer infections. It takes 8-12 weeks for a producer to get back up to close to full capacity. 
 

Fwiw, the producers can make indemnity claims to USDA when they have to cull. Our tax dollars have been backing those claims up so far.