Bird flu, which led to a cull and sent egg prices soaring just a couple years ago, is back. On Tuesday, America’s largest egg producer halted production at its Texas plant due to the discovery of infected chickens. According to agricultural officials, the virus has also shown up at a Michigan poultry facility.
The Ridgeland, Texas facility is owned by Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. The Mississippi-based agribusiness giant issued a statement explaining that 3.6% of its total flock—around 337,000 pullets and 1.6 million laying hens—were culled after avian influenza was detected at the Parmer County, Texas plant.
The facility is located on the border between Texas and New Mexico in the Texas panhandle, approximately 370 miles northwest of Dallas and 85 miles southwest of Amarillo.
The company stated that it is working closely with relevant authorities at all levels of government in response to the incident, and to reduce future outbreaks. Cal-Maine hopes, the statement says, to keep egg market disruption to a minimum. There is, at present, no known risk that eggs currently on the market are infected with the virus. Even if there were, the US Department of Agriculture states that eggs which are properly handled and properly cooked are safe to eat.
The Cal-Maine announcement came a day after, according to state health officials, a person was diagnosed with bird flu after having come into contact with an infected cow. The risk to the public is said to remain low at this time.
Meanwhile, according to the Agriculture and Rural Development department for Michigan State, the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Michigan State University detected bird flu at an Ionia County commercial poultry facility, about a hundred miles northwest of Detroit.
The presence of the disease was confirmed by the lab on Monday. This is the fourth time that the disease has shown up at Michigan’s commercial poultry facilities since 2022. The facility is ow under quarantine.
