Arkansas poultry growers are on high alert after avian flu was confirmed on a second Missouri turkey farm in two days.
The Missouri Department of Agriculture said Monday that more than 50,000 turkeys would be euthanized, and none of the birds from either farm would enter the food system because of the infection.
"Our poultry and egg companies give serious consideration and take immediate preventative steps whenever an avian influenza outbreak is confirmed," said Marvin Childers, president of the Poultry Federation of Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, in a statement.
The farms are 130 miles apart. One is in Fortuna, in central Missouri, and the other is in Asbury, in the southwest part of the state about 60 miles from the Arkansas border.
This strain of avian flu is deadly to some birds but unlikely to have an effect on human health, according to the Missouri Department of Agriculture.
The disease's largest effect may be its ability to disrupt foreign trade.
Strains of H5N2 avian flu previously have been found in Minnesota, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Dozens of countries and the European Union have banned poultry imports from the states.
And China, which was the No. 4 importer of U.S. poultry and egg products, stopped importing poultry from the entire United States in January after the incidents in the Pacific Northwest.
Poultry companies say they can route birds in such a way that business isn't affected significantly when a few states face bans.
George Pat Badley, Arkansas' state veterinarian, said how the disease is being transmitted is a mystery. The U.S. Department of Agriculture believes waterfowl are the most likely culprit, but the spread hasn't followed past patterns.
"It's not spreading from farm to farm, it's just jumping," Badley said. "Normally you would expect maybe a backyard flock that's outside to get it first if it's being transferred by waterfowl. They're investigating it right now."
Commercial chicken and turkeys are grown in enclosed barns and do not come in contact with outside wildlife.
The last time commercial poultry in Arkansas caught avian flu was July 2013 in a Scott County Tyson Foods flock. The flock was isolated, euthanized and disposed of to prevent the spread of the disease.
Still, China, Russia, Japan and other major importers banned Arkansas chicken after the incident. The Chinese ban was still in place when the country banned all chicken from the United States earlier this year, although most bans last closer to 90 days.
Arkansas growers have been on high biosecurity alert since the disease entered Minnesota last week to prevent its spread to Arkansas, Badley said.
"It's a very volatile situation," he said. "We just have to wait and see."
Business on 03/11/2015