A flock of 200,000 hens at an egg-laying facility in Wisconsin is the first commercial U.S. chicken operation to become infected with the lethal strain of bird flu, H5N2, reports the Morning Ag Clips.
The facility is under quarantine and chickens are being culled to prevent the disease from spreading. Neither chickens nor eggs from the Wisconsin facility will enter the food system.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said this bird flu outbreak widens the impact of a virus that has killed hundreds of thousands of turkeys this year. Producers, such as Tyson Foods Inc., have strengthened biosecurity measures to keep the disease off farms.
The USDA reduced its forecast for poultry exports by nearly 6 percent from March due partly to bird flu outbreaks. Major overseas buyers, including China and Mexico, have restricted imports of U.S. poultry and eggs in the $5.7 billion export market.
No human cases of the flu have been detected.