FOOD SAFETY NEWS – Prior to just 70 days ago, the worst case of highly pathogenic avian influenza(HPAI) in the United States occurred in 2015.
By all indications, the HPAI outbreaks that have already happened in just more than two months of 2022 surpassed those 2015 Avian flu records.
Just four commercial flocks recently culled more than 15 million diseased birds.
In each of the 203 Avian flu detections, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and state officials share the incident response duties to quarantine the affected premises. Birds on the properties are destroyed to prevent the spread of the disease. Birds from the flocks do not enter the food chain.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the recent HPAI detections do not present an immediate public health concern. No human cases of these avian influenza viruses have been detected in the United States.
As a reminder, the proper handling and cooking of all poultry and eggs to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F is recommended as a food safety precaution.
As part of existing avian influenza response plans, federal and state agencies are working jointly on additional surveillance and testing in areas around affected flocks.
The United States has the strongest avian influenza surveillance program in the world, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is working with its partners to actively look for the disease in commercial poultry operations, live bird markets, and migratory wild bird populations.
