Bird Flu Detected in Michigan Poultry, Following Texas Egg Plant Shutdown
A Texas plant that makes the most fresh eggs in the U.S. had to temporarily stop making eggs on Tuesday because chickens had bird flu. The virus was also found at a chicken farm in Michigan, according to officials.
In a statement, Ridgeland, Mississippi-based Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. said that avian influenza was found at a plant in Parmer County, Texas and that about 1.6 million laying hens and 337,000 pullets, or 3.6% of its total flock, had to be killed.
The plant is on the border between Texas and New Mexico in the Texas Panhandle. It is about 370 miles northwest of Dallas and 85 miles southwest of Amarillo. Cal-Maine said that most of its eggs are sold in the southwestern, southeastern, midwestern, and mid-Atlantic parts of the United States.
“The Company continues to work closely with federal, state, and local government officials and focused industry groups to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks and effectively manage the response,” it said.
“Cal-Maine Foods is working to secure production from other facilities to minimize disruption to its customers,” it said.
The company said that there is no known risk of bird flu from eggs on the market right now, and no eggs have been returned.
As long as eggs are treated and cooked correctly, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says they are safe to eat.
Cal-Maine’s news comes a day after state health officials said a person had been diagnosed with bird flu after coming into contact with cows that were thought to be infected. They also said that the risk to the public is still low. Federal health officials say that the person in Texas is the first person in the world known to have gotten this strain of bird flu from an animal.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development says that the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Michigan State University has found bird flu in an industrial poultry facility in Ionia County.
About 100 miles north of Detroit is the county.
The department said Monday that the lab confirmed the presence of the disease. This is the fourth time since 2022 that the disease has been found at a commercial site in Michigan.
Jennifer Holton, a spokeswoman for the department, said on Tuesday that state law doesn’t allow them to say what kind of birds are kept at the facility. The building is now under quarantine, and Holton said that the department doesn’t think there will be any problems with supply chains across the state.
Last week, it was said that dairy cows in Texas and Kansas had bird flu. Later, federal agriculture officials confirmed that a dairy group in Michigan that had recently gotten cows from Texas also had the flu. One more dairy herd in Idaho has been added to the list after federal agricultural officials confirmed that they had bird flu. This was stated in a press release from the USDA on Tuesday.