Latest news with #birdflu
Reuters
4 hours ago
- Health
- Reuters
WOAH considers Brazil bird flu outbreak on commercial farm resolved
SAO PAULO, June 20 (Reuters) - The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) considers a bird flu outbreak on a commercial farm in Brazil as "resolved," a page detailing the case on WOAH's website showed on Friday. Earlier this week, Brazil, the world's largest poultry exporter, declared itself free of bird flu in commercial flocks after observing a 28-day period without any new commercial farm outbreaks.
Reuters
6 hours ago
- Health
- Reuters
Exclusive: USDA develops potential plan to vaccinate poultry for bird flu
CHICAGO, June 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering a potential plan to vaccinate poultry against bird flu for the first time that includes evaluating how it would affect exports, the agency told Reuters this week. The actions advance the government's assessment of a vaccine after the USDA received proposals on usage from associations representing egg and turkey producers whose farms have been devastated by the virus. Nearly 175 million chickens, turkeys and other birds have been culled in attempts to contain outbreaks since 2022 in the nation's worst animal-health emergency. Losses of egg-laying chickens drove egg prices to records this year, prompting grocers to ration supplies, restaurants to hike prices, and food manufacturers to increase imports from countries including Turkey, Brazil and South Korea. The USDA pledged to spend up to $100 million on research into vaccines and other therapies to combat bird flu after prices spiked. Now, USDA and industry officials are pursuing a more solid, written plan to potentially show importers to gauge whether vaccinations would limit trading. Industry members expect the agency to complete the plan in July. The USDA said this week that it is working with federal, state and industry officials to develop its potential plan and is engaging with trading partners. "You need a more complete strategy and plan for them to consider," said Dr. John Clifford, a former USDA chief veterinary officer who advises the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council. Debates over potential vaccinations have pitted poultry producers against each other since widespread outbreaks in 2015. Many egg and turkey farmers said they need vaccines to help protect flocks. But government officials and companies that produce chicken meat have worried that inoculations risk all types of U.S. poultry exports, if countries impose broad bans over concerns that a vaccine might mask the presence of the virus in flocks. It would be devastating to chicken meat producers if importers halted trading, Clifford said. Such producers rely more heavily on exports than egg and turkey farmers, and they have not been hit as hard by the virus. The USDA has spent more than $1 billion, opens new tab compensating farmers for culled flocks, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, increasing costs for the epidemic. "We can't continue to operate the way we are today," said Dr. Craig Rowles, a vice president at egg company Versova. Major losses of egg-laying hens prompted the United Egg Producers industry group to begin work on its own proposal in January, representatives said. It asked four longtime veterinarians, including Clifford and Rowles, to work on a plan it submitted to the USDA. Their plan suggested an initial vaccination for baby chicks, followed by a booster shot and then testing of flocks every few weeks, Rowles said. Vaccinations would make chickens less susceptible to infections, while routine testing would increase monitoring for outbreaks, he said. Flocks that test positive would still be culled under the proposal, Rowles said, adding that such cullings would likely be important to importers seeking to avoid the virus. The National Chicken Council, which represents chicken meat companies, said it does not object to the USDA moving ahead with a vaccine if producers can maintain exports. The council had warned, opens new tab in February that vaccinations of any poultry birds, such as laying hens, would jeopardize exports of all U.S. poultry products. Glenn Hickman, president of egg producer Hickman's Family Farms, blamed the chicken meat industry for opposing vaccinations that could help save his flocks. The virus has decimated about 6 million of his birds since May, or 95% of his production in Arizona. "Let me protect my chickens," Hickman said.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Union presses California's key bird flu testing lab for records
The union representing workers at a UC Davis lab that tests and tracks bird flu infections in livestock has sued the university, demanding that records showing staffing levels and other information about the lab's operations be released to the public. Workers in the lab's small biotechnology department had raised concerns late last year about short staffing and potentially bungled testing procedures as cases of avian flu spread through millions of birds in turkey farms and chicken and egg-laying facilities, as well as through the state's cattle herds. The University Professional and Technical Employees-CWA Local 9119 said that it requested records in December 2024 in an attempt to understand whether the lab was able to properly service the state's agribusiness. But UC Davis has refused to release records, in violation of California's public records laws, the union alleged in a lawsuit recently filed in Alameda County Superior Court. Read more: With bird flu cases on the rise, staff at California lab say they are overworked and burned out UC Davis spokesperson Bill Kisliuk declined to comment on the lawsuit's specific allegations. "The university looks forward to filing our response in court. We are grateful for the outstanding work of the CAHFS lab staff, including UPTE-represented workers, during the 2024 surge in avian flu testing," Kisliuk said in an email. UC Davis has previously denied that workplace issues have left the lab ill-equipped to handle bird flu testing. Kisliuk had said the facility 'maintained the supervision, staffing and resources necessary to provide timely and vital health and safety information to those asking us to perform tests." According to copies of email correspondence cited in the lawsuit, UC Davis in January denied the union's request for records regarding short staffing or testing errors, calling the request "unduly burdensome." It also denied its request for information about farms and other businesses that had samples tested at the lab, citing an exemption to protect from an "invasion of personal privacy." Workers at the lab had previously told The Times that they observed lapses in quality assurance procedures, as well as other mistakes in the testing process. Amy Fletcher, a UC Davis employee and president of the union's Davis chapter, said the records would provide a necessary window into how staffing levels could be hurting farms and other businesses that rely on the lab for testing. Fletcher said workers have become afraid to speak about problems at the lab, having been warned by management that the some information related to testing is confidential. The Davis lab is the only entity in the state with the authority to confirm bird flu cases. The union, known as UPTE, represents about 20,000 researchers and other technical workers across the University of California system's 10 campuses. Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Washington Post
The Great Egg Heist: 280,000 eggs disappeared from America's top producer. Then came a ransom note.
'I'd like to report a crime,' said the man who called a Maryland sheriff's office on April 16. There was a theft, he explained, involving a freight truck. 'So they stole the whole freight?' a dispatcher asked. 'Only took the cargo,' the man answered. It was valued, he said, at about $100,000. The dispatcher asked what was stolen. The caller hesitated. 'They took … basically … they took a whole trailer full of eggs.' The hens were unaware of the heist. They had done their part: the shuffling around, the squatting down, the gentle plop! to release one perfect orb, ready to be tucked into a carton and shipped to the grocery aisles and diner griddles and breakfast tables of America. Before the product of their labor was an item on a police report, it was a shipment headed from Maryland to Florida: 280,000 brown eggs, sizes large and extra large. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement They belonged to Cal-Maine Foods, which boasts being 'number one in the pecking order' of egg supply. About 1 of every 5 eggs sold in America are laid by a Cal-Maine hen. They line the refrigerated shelves of Walmarts, Costcos and other supermarkets, labeled Eggland's Best, Land O'Lakes and various generic brands. By gobbling up its competitors, Cal-Maine built an egg empire without most egg eaters knowing the company's name. But by the April afternoon when the 280,000 eggs left the farm, that was beginning to change. A winter spike in bird flu was widely seen as the cause of empty shelves and eggs doubling or tripling in price. Breakfast joints, from small-town cafes to mega-chain Waffle House, began charging extra for eggs. Backyard chickens, a DIY solution to one shortage, led to another, of baby chicks. In his first four months in office, President Donald Trump, who'd declared he'd 'won on groceries,' said the word 'eggs' in public at least 167 times. With prices soaring, eggs of all brands were reported stolen from porches and farm stands. Two thieves were captured on camera sprinting through snow with more than 500 eggs from a Seattle cafe. A truck full of eggs was driven off an organic farm in Indiana. At one point, federal agents at the border were seizing eggs more often than fentanyl. Then in February, bandits grabbed about 100,000 organic eggs from the back of a trailer at a facility in Pennsylvania. The theft garnered weeks of international media attention, but it remains unsolved. The shipment of eggs stolen from Cal-Maine's Maryland farm in April was nearly three times that size. One worker at the farm suspected an inside job. An employee of a nearby deli wondered who really, really loved egg salad. With Easter just days away, neighbors on Facebook pointed fingers at a certain bunny. Cal-Maine said nothing publicly about the disappearance and declined interviews with The Washington Post. In the weeks leading to the heist, Cal-Maine itself had come under investigation. The Justice Department had launched a formal inquiry into the spike in egg prices — and was specifically looking into Cal-Maine's business practices. Farmers accused the egg giant of price gouging. Lawmakers demanded answers about the company's record profits. In Maryland, law enforcement suspected that what happened to the eggs was connected to what was happening to America: Prices were high, and folks were flustered. Everybody was looking for someone to blame. Was this a Robin Hood-style strike at Cal-Maine? A crime of market-driven opportunity? Can someone really get away with stealing 280,000 eggs? The detective heard a knock on the edge of his cubicle. William Muller, 41, investigated property crimes at the Cecil County Sheriff's Office. Typically, that meant stolen cars and stolen copper. Once, it meant stolen crabs. 'I'm so egg-cited to give you your next case,' joked his boss, Sgt. Michael Kalinsky, on April 16. 'I'm egg-silarated.' They were familiar with the egg farm, one of many poultry farms on a part of Maryland's Eastern Shore the cops called 'the chicken corridor.' When the farm's hens were sickened with bird flu in 2022, the sheriff's office was tasked with securing its perimeter. What the deputies remembered most about the Warwick farm, though, was the time in 2011 when a fire killed 300,000 hens. The town smelled like roast chicken for days. Sgt. Michael Kalinsky of the Cecil County Sheriff's Office. Detective William Muller of the Cecil County Sheriff's Office. 1 Click or tap these icons to see additional sourcing and background information. The first step for Muller, who liked his eggs scrambled, and Kalinsky, a sunny-side-up man, was to review the initial police report. A deputy had driven to the farm to get the basics of what happened. His body camera was rolling. 1 1 The Post reviewed the footage, law enforcement records and other materials to reconstruct the investigation. The Post reviewed the footage, law enforcement records and other materials to reconstruct the investigation. 'I thought egg prices were coming down?' the deputy asked the staff. Eggs, one employee responded, were 'so lucrative.' 'People never think about it, but it's crazy,' she said. She led him to a conference room. Inside was a whiteboard with cartoon chickens drawn on it. Their bulging eyes watched over the meeting. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement The staff began explaining what happened. 'That many eggs?' the deputy said. 'Holy shit.' They showed him internal invoices that valued the stolen loot at $36,621, or roughly $1.57 per dozen — a fraction of what consumers would have paid at the store. The deputy asked for the name of the victim in the case. Previously, the egg farm had been owned by ISE America. But in 2024, Cal-Maine had paid about $110 million for around 4,000 acres and 4.7 million chickens, expanding its empire along the East Coast. It was one of more than two dozen companies Cal-Maine had acquired since it was founded in 1957 by a 6-foot-4-inch Mississippi farmer named Fred Adams Jr. He was known to many as 'The Big Chicken.' 'If we had a Mount Rushmore,' the head of United Egg Producers once said, 'Mr. Adams would most definitely be our George Washington.' The Big Chicken's big strategy was to own almost every step of the process: the hen breeding, the chick hatching, the pullet growing, the feed milling, the egg processing, the carton packaging, the wholesale distributing. After he died in 2020, Adams's four daughters maintained majority control of the publicly traded company, which churns out more than 8 million eggs an hour — a dozen for just about every person in Boston — and sells more than 13 billion a year. 2 2 The Post reviewed company statistics published on its website, investor relations presentations and other securities filings. The Post reviewed company statistics published on its website, investor relations presentations and other securities filings. Cal-Maine founder Fred Adams Jr. was affectionately known as "The Big Chicken.' Not every part of Cal-Maine's business is in-house — it still contracts with farmers to buy eggs and regularly relies on other companies for shipping. And that, the sheriff's office realized, was where things had gone wrong. While reviewing the initial report, Muller and Kalinsky noted that it was not a Cal-Maine truck that picked up the 280,000 eggs on April 11. Cal-Maine had hired an outside company, called a freight broker, to arrange transportation. Minh Dang, who loved a good egg crepe, worked for the Florida broker who handled the shipment. To find a trucker, he advertised on DAT, a popular job site for haulers. A man named Bernardo responded. He agreed to pick up the eggs and deliver them to two Cal-Maine facilities in Florida. Dang said he took all his usual precautions: He checked Bernardo's credentials, including his motor carrier number, years in business and accident history. He confirmed with Bernardo that the cargo was dropped off in Florida as promised. But then, Cal-Maine contacted Dang: Where were their eggs? Story continues below advertisement Advertisement Dang assumed it was a simple mix-up. He asked the Maryland farm for paperwork. They sent a receipt from the trucker who picked up the load, showing that he had followed the protocol of taking his 18-wheeler to a truck wash to be sanitized to prevent the spread of disease. When Dang reviewed the receipt, he realized someone other than Bernardo had paid for the truck wash and picked up the eggs. Dang called Bernardo. No answer. He emailed, asking for proof of delivery. 3 3 The Post interviewed Dang and a co-worker and reviewed law enforcement records detailing the theft. The Post interviewed Dang and a co-worker and reviewed law enforcement records detailing the theft. Dang started to panic. It was the week before Easter. The eggs should have already been hard-boiled and dunked in dyes. He'd seen news stories about egg thefts across the country, including the 100,000 eggs pilfered in Pennsylvania. At 3:45 p.m. on April 15, he tried a new tactic, emailing: 'You will be fine[d] $200 for not sending paper work in time. This fine will increase the longer we wait.' Bernardo replied within the hour. 'You need to zelle or wire $7500 if you want your eggs.' A ransom note was sent after the eggs were stolen. Two months earlier, an Ohio farmer named Angela Huffman had carefully composed an email of her own. Hers, too, was about eggs and a possible crime. 'Attached please find a letter outlining potential monopolization and anticompetitive coordination that we uncovered,' she wrote to the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department. Huffman, who scrambled her organic eggs with feta, asked the agencies to investigate alleged profiteering and collusion by the companies dominating America's egg market — in particular, Cal-Maine. Farm Action co-founder Angela Huffman. Huffman sent the letter on behalf of Farm Action, a watchdog organization she co-founded. When the 42-year-old farmer wasn't breeding sheep or tending chickens, she was leading a team of six people who fought corporate practices they said were hurting small farmers, food chain workers and consumers. Usually, she worked out of the rural farmhouse in northwest Ohio that has been in her family for more than 200 years. But in hopes of getting the incoming Trump administration's attention on issues Farm Action cared about, she had boarded her animals, packed up a picture of her farm and temporarily moved to an apartment in the nation's capital. On the surface, Huffman understood, the rise in egg prices over the past few years made sense. Bird flu had killed millions of hens. Fewer hens meant fewer eggs. Fewer eggs meant higher prices — prices most shoppers, committed to their morning routines and baking needs, were still willing to pay. But Huffman and Farm Action argued that Cal-Maine and other major egg producers were exploiting this situation, using the avian flu as an excuse to goose profits, then buying up rivals. In 2022, H5N1 struck commercial poultry. That year, Cal-Maine didn't lose a single hen to bird flu. That December, Cal-Maine reported quarterly profits 169 times higher than the year before. This wasn't the first time the company had come under scrutiny for egg pricing. 4 4 Cal-Maine, in its December 2022 earnings report, stated the increase in profits resulted from significantly higher selling prices due to the avian flu and good customer demand. Cal-Maine, in its December 2022 earnings report, stated the increase in profits resulted from significantly higher selling prices due to the avian flu and good customer demand. In 2023, a federal jury in Illinois found that Cal-Maine and others in the industry had conspired in the past to inflate the price of eggs in part by restricting the supply of hens. They were ordered to pay out more than $43 million in damages. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement The company is also still fighting a civil lawsuit in which Texas authorities accused it of price gouging during the pandemic. 'Cal-Maine Foods continues to believe that the Company did nothing wrong,' the business said in a statement in 2023. That year, Huffman and Farm Action alerted the federal government to Cal-Maine's substantial profits, asking for an investigation. Since then, Cal-Maine had grown even bigger, scooping up more competitors and their hens. The government had handed Cal-Maine more than $40 million in taxpayer money for bird-flu relief payments. Cal-Maine was on track to make $1 billion in profits in a single year. Cal-Maine, Huffman knew, was paying one of its contract egg farmers as little as 26.75 cents per dozen. Shoppers were regularly paying more than $6, and sometimes up to $10 , per carton. 5 5 The Post reviewed a copy of an independent egg farmer's contract with Cal-Maine obtained by Farm Action. The contract also includes other support for flock care and egg production. The Post reviewed a copy of an independent egg farmer's contract with Cal-Maine obtained by Farm Action. The contract also includes other support for flock care and egg production. Three weeks after Huffman sent the letter, news broke that the Justice Department had opened an investigation into Cal-Maine and other egg producers to determine if they had violated antitrust laws. At first, the company had little public response, beyond acknowledging that it was cooperating. But after weeks of news articles, reports from advocacy groups and calls from lawmakers, Cal-Maine chief executive Sherman Miller gave an interview and tour to the Wall Street Journal. 'Someone has to get blamed for everything. They're looking for a villain,' Miller told the Journal. 'We don't control the power to lower egg prices.' Through a public relations official who specializes in 'complex reputational challenges,' Cal-Maine declined to answer all but one question from The Post on the record: CEO Miller most enjoys his eggs in an omelet for dinner after a long day. Cal-Maine defended its practices in an FAQ posted on its website in April, saying it did not keep eggs off the market to keep prices high, is working to rebuild its flock and cannot do more to bring down prices. Cal-Maine bought this Maryland farm in 2024. Cal-Maine sells more than 13 billion eggs a year. Egg producers are not 'price-makers,' Cal-Maine argued, but are 'price-takers.' As a commodity, eggs are priced largely based on a system in which a private research firm crunches sales data from egg producers, retailers and others to calculate what eggs are worth on a given day. Critics say this system incentivizes egg producers to report inflated rates, ultimately leading the firm to set higher prices. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement 'It would be irrational for us to act in any manner that undermines growth in our core egg business,' Cal-Maine's FAQ explained. Posting these answers didn't put an end to the questioning of Cal-Maine, especially as the company reported that the four daughters of Fred 'The Big Chicken' Adams Jr. had started selling off family shares worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Executives discussed the move in April in the company's earnings report, in which it announced another quarter of record profits. Three days later, the 280,000 eggs disappeared. Before calling the sheriff's office, Dang and his co-worker at the Florida freight broker did some more sleuthing to figure out who had picked up the eggs. They had one clue: the truck wash receipt. It had a details about another trucking company. Before picking up the eggs, the trucker had his trailer cleaned here. Dang tracked down the trucker's phone number. A man answered. Dang pleaded: 'Where are my eggs?' The trucker told Dang — and eventually the detective — what happened. He agreed to share his story with The Post on the condition that he not be named, saying he feared retaliation from people 'with resources.' The trucker said he picked up the egg delivery on the online job site, like with any other haul. It seemed straightforward. A freight broker gave him an address for the Maryland farm, and a deadline to retrieve 40,000 pounds of eggs with a declared value of $100,000. The trucker, who was in the habit of putting chili powder and lime on his hard-boiled eggs, said he was paid $1,000 up front, sent via Zelle to the owner of the trucking company he worked for. The broker promised another $900 after the trucker dropped off the eggs. 6 6 The Post confirmed the trucker's account with the owner of the trucking company and law enforcement. The Post confirmed the trucker's account with the owner of the trucking company and law enforcement. But his destination wasn't Florida: The broker directed him to an address in New York. It was a lot of money for a few hours of driving, but he'd be traveling to one of the most dreaded places for a trucker, or really anyone, in rush hour: Staten Island. When the trucker was a half-hour away, the broker advised that there were delays at the warehouse. He was redirected to a parking lot near some baseball fields, where he found a man waiting to set up a temporary loading dock. Muller, the detective, reviews the trucker's route. An 18-wheeler transported the eggs from Maryland to Staten Island. The trucker had been awake for almost 24 hours. Thinking his job was done, he said, he decided to lie down in the cab of his truck while the eggs were unloaded. He fell asleep. When he woke up, it was dark. The people were gone. The eggs were gone. The trucker found it odd that no one knocked on his cab door to finish the paperwork. But when he called his boss, the trucker learned the other $900 was sitting in the Zelle account, as promised. He assumed everything was fine. A few days later, the same broker called to offer another job: Get 30,000 pounds of pig skins from Ohio to Staten Island. The trucker was hauling the pig skins, he said, when he got the call from Dang in Florida. Missing eggs. Stolen goods. Big problem. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement The trucker insisted to Dang that he had no idea the eggs he transported were poached. Dang would come to realize 'Bernardo' had posed as a legitimate hauler to find out where the eggs were, then hired the trucker to take them to Staten Island, where they could have been quickly sold to bodegas throughout New York City. 'Listen, your eggs are gone,' the trucker told Dang. 'But these pig skins, I can still save them.' Two months later, 'Bernardo' remains at large. This kind of scam, trucking experts say, has soared in recent years. Identity theft, phishing and other tactics are used to trick brokers and truckers into handing cargo to criminal groups. Eggs — with their fragility and short shelf life — had not been a common target. But as prices rose, so did their value on the black market. In Staten Island, near the parking lot where the eggs were unloaded, a reporter was kicked out of an auto body shop while asking for security footage. Around the corner, the owner of a bagel shop (voted best bacon, egg and cheese in Staten Island) said he would have gladly accepted black market eggs, but no one ever approached him. The trucker eventually persuaded the pig skin shipper to take back their goods. Then he got one last call from the scammer. 'I know what you're doing,' the trucker said he told the man. The trucker's boss was on the line, listening. He said he'd never forget what the scammer told them before hanging up: 'Everybody gotta do what they gotta do. This is how we feed our family.' Detective Muller and Sgt. Kalinsky believe the scammer stole the identity of a real man named Bernardo, with a real trucking company, which is why his credentials checked out. After The Post contacted DAT, the website where the scammer reposted the job, the company said it tracked down the real Bernardo to help him protect his accounts. The detective said he believes the price of eggs undoubtedly set the heist in motion, but he said he still questions the scammer's motive. Maybe he was part of an organized crime ring looking to make a score. Maybe he wanted to stick it to The Man. Or, in this case, The Big Chicken. For consumers, a carton of eggs costs about 69 percent more on average than it did a year ago. But it is far cheaper than it was in March. Lawmakers have questioned whether such a 'precipitous drop' — shortly after news of the Justice Department's investigation broke — means egg producers conspired to inflate prices. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement On Capitol Hill, a bill was introduced to stop certain government funds from flowing to large, highly profitable egg producers like Cal-Maine. At the White House, where Trump is said to eat his eggs over-well, officials declined to comment. Angela Huffman, who asked for the federal investigation, said she could not say whether Justice Department officials have interviewed her and her colleagues at Farm Action. She has since moved back to her farm in Ohio, where her hens provide her with fresh eggs every day. Huffman reviews the letter her organization sent to the Justice Department. Huffman raises Katahdin sheep on her Ohio farm. At the Maryland farm, the hens — and their eggs — could be under tighter security. On the day that the Cecil County Sheriff's Office began its investigation, workers discussed with the deputy the need for better cameras. One made a request, in case the culprit was ever tracked down: 'If you find them, can we have them for about 30 minutes?' The deputy didn't hesitate. 'We'll just put 'em in one of them chicken pens out there.' 'Yeah,' another employee agreed. 'We'll see how they like it.'
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Health
- Japan Times
Geography helps shield Brazil from U.S.-style bird flu epidemic, for now
Brazil's vast and diverse geography, with the Amazon to the north, mountain ranges along the Atlantic coast and the Andes to its west, may have helped it avoid the U.S. fate of widespread bird flu among commercial poultry flocks by keeping migratory birds away from farms in the country's interior. Wednesday marks more than a month without a new bird flu case on a commercial poultry farm in Brazil, ending an observation period after its first such outbreak. The success brings hope to farmers that there will be no repeat of the persistent infections in the U.S., where the virus devastated the domestic egg industry and triggered lasting trade bans. There are doubts, however, whether the landscape can offer long-term protection. Bird flu has spread around the world, even reaching Antarctica for the first time in 2024, in a threat to poultry flocks, wild birds and mammals, including U.S. dairy cows. In Brazil, the Andes may delay the entrance of virulent new strains for two or three years, said Alex Jahn, researcher at Oregon State University's department of integrative biology. But Brazil will remain at risk for outbreaks as wild bird populations now infected with the virus circulate more widely. South American birds can migrate in all directions depending on rainfall, Jahn said, unlike the north-south seasonal migration over the United States. Those migratory flyways over the U.S. appear to be major vectors for contagion between wild birds and commercial poultry, said John Clifford, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's former chief veterinary officer. "If you look at the wild waterfowl patterns, that's probably the key," said Clifford. "We have four flyways coming in through the U.S." By contrast, the Amazon basin acts as a natural filter keeping wild birds away from Brazilian poultry, said Guillermo Zavala, a U.S.-based avian health consultant who has worked in the poultry industry for more than 30 years. The wild birds spreading the virus tend to spend time in nesting areas north of the equator, he said. Masaio Ishizuka, a senior epidemiologist at the Sao Paulo University, said evidence suggests migratory birds have now infected local Brazilian species, making the bird flu virus endemic in the world's largest chicken exporter, which accounts for 39% of global trade. Last month, Brazil's first outbreak on a commercial farm led to the culling of about 17,000 breeding chickens, producing birds raised for meat. Since then, meatpackers BRF and JBS culled at least 141,000 healthy chickens preemptively. Brazil has detected 174 cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, since 2023, mostly in waterfowl along the coast, according to government data. The United States has confirmed the virus in about 10 times as many commercial and backyard flocks since 2022, the USDA said. About 175 million U.S. chickens, turkeys and other birds have been culled. China has blocked poultry products from Brazil and most U.S. states due to outbreaks, and other nations also restricted shipments. Russia, Saudi Arabia and Mexico enforce statewide restrictions that only apply to poultry from Rio Grande do Sul, where the one commercial outbreak occurred. Japan and United Arab Emirates are among nations with even narrower import bans, restricting only poultry products from the town of Montenegro. Brazil's first commercial outbreak hit a chicken breeding farm, where biosecurity rules are supposed to be stricter than on facilities where chickens are raised for meat, said Felipe Sousa, assistant professor at Sao Paulo University's school of agriculture. Security measures at breeding facilities require workers to shower before going in and use clean uniforms and shoes provided by employers. Brazilian farmers are also required to put up fences 5 meters away from chicken houses and one-inch mesh screening, commonly known as chicken wire, both around the walls and the property to keep stray or wild animals away from flocks, Sousa said. Many U.S. farms have similar precautions, except for the fencing and screening rules, said Ashley Peterson, a senior vice president at the U.S. National Chicken Council. U.S. chicken flocks are tested for bird flu before being slaughtered as part of a monitoring program, she added. Brazilian meat lobby ABPA and the government did not comment on pre-slaughter protocols. Clifford, who works with a U.S. poultry export association, said he expects more commercial outbreaks in Brazil with the virus present in wild waterfowl. "If they only have one, I would have a lot of curiosity about their surveillance program," he said. "They would be darn lucky." Officials recently confirmed backyard and wild species outbreaks in the center of Brazil, showing the virus is traveling inland. In response, Marcelo Mota, Brazil's chief veterinary officer, said the country will enforce new biosecurity guidance for zoos, parks and conservation sites. "We will be busy," he said.
