The bird flu epidemic in the Midwest has grabbed the attention of livestock producers and food processors across the country. The Northwest Food Processors Association brought together experts to Puyallup, Washington, to talk about biosecurity and to learn from the recent epidemic that devastated egg producers in the Midwest. The message to attendees: What happened there could happen here, and you’ll never be fully prepared for it.
The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus is carried primarily by wild geese and ducks, which are largely unaffected by the disease, and can be spread to domestic poultry during migratory seasons. A particular strain of avian influenza, H5N2, was confirmed in a backyard chicken flock in Washington State. The HPAI epidemic in the Midwest a few months ago resulted in the destruction of 50 million chickens and turkeys.
Several poultry researchers and veterinarians participated in the summit, and the message they brought with them was that producers in the Midwest were not prepared for an avian flu outbreak. However, the disease can overtake hundreds of thousands of chickens on a single egg farm in a matter of hours; an entire flock can be dead in about 10 days.
“What the Midwest experience showed us vividly was that an avian flu outbreak on a commercial poultry farm is a challenging, and potentially nightmarish experience,” said Greg Satrum, vice president of Willamette Egg Farms in Canby, Oregon. “It’s in our best interest as an industry to work collaboratively with other poultry farms and state authorities to keep the virus out of production facilities.”
How to increase biosecurity was the biggest topic at the meeting.