Largest contemporary egg producer in U.S. finds fowl flu in chickens at Texas and Michigan crops

The biggest producer of contemporary eggs within the U.S. mentioned Tuesday it had briefly halted manufacturing at a Texas plant after fowl flu was present in chickens, and officers mentioned the virus had additionally been detected at a poultry facility in Michigan.

In Texas, Ridgeland, Mississippi-based Cal-Maine Meals, Inc. mentioned in an announcement that roughly 1.6 million laying hens and 337,000 pullets, about 3.6% of its complete flock, have been destroyed after the an infection, avian influenza, was discovered on the facility in Parmer County, Texas.

The plant is on the Texas-New Mexico border within the Texas Panhandle about 85 miles southwest of Amarillo and about 370 miles northwest of Dallas.

“The Firm continues to work intently with federal, state and native authorities officers and targeted business teams to mitigate the chance of future outbreaks and successfully handle the response,” in line with the assertion. “Cal-Maine Meals is working to safe manufacturing from different amenities to reduce disruption to its clients.”

The corporate mentioned there is no such thing as a identified fowl flu danger related to eggs which might be at present in the marketplace and no eggs have been recalled. Eggs which might be correctly dealt with and cooked are fit for human consumption, in line with the U.S. Division of Agriculture.

The announcement by Cal-Maine comes a day after state well being officers mentioned an individual had been identified with fowl flu after being in touch with cows presumed to be contaminated, and that the chance to the general public stays low.

In Michigan, Michigan State College’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has detected fowl flu in a industrial poultry facility in Ionia County, in line with the Michigan’s Division of Agriculture and Rural Growth.

The county is about 100 miles northwest of Detroit.

The division mentioned it acquired affirmation of the illness Monday from the lab and that it’s the fourth time since 2022 that the illness was detected at a industrial facility in Michigan.

Division spokesperson Jennifer Holton mentioned Tuesday that state regulation prohibits the division from disclosing the kind of poultry on the facility in Ionia.

The power has been positioned beneath quarantine and the division doesn’t anticipate any disruptions to produce chains throughout the state, Holton mentioned.

The human case in Texas marks the primary identified occasion globally of an individual catching this model of fowl flu from a mammal, federal well being officers mentioned.

Dairy cows in Texas and Kansas have been reported to be contaminated with fowl flu final week – and federal agriculture officers later confirmed infections in a Michigan dairy herd that had just lately acquired cows from Texas.

The corporate mentioned Cal-Maine sells most of its eggs within the Southwestern, Southeastern, Midwestern and mid-Atlantic areas of the USA.