Dive Brief:
- Tests for the H5N2 bird flu strain are on their way to the USDA to confirm whether five more Iowa farms have been contaminated by the virus, including one commercial egg facility that contains up to 5.5 million birds, which would be the country's biggest outbreak.
- If these tests are confirmed, the total number of birds affected could reach more than 20 million, the highest death toll ever for a bird flu outbreak in the U.S.
- One of these farms is a chicken broiler breeding farm. It only houses about 19,000 birds, but what is particularly worrisome is that broiler breeding farms are known for having tight biosecurity measures in place.
Dive Insight:
With no end in sight — and instead a propensity to get worse — the bird flu is a major concern for the poultry industry and the food companies who source their meats from these farms. Post Holdings, Inc. and Hormel Foods Corp. have already been directly affected by bird flu outbreaks on their farms, and one outbreak in Arkansas led to tumbling stock prices for Tyson Foods Inc. and Pilgrim's Pride Corp.
These likely won't be the only companies affected by the virus, it's just a matter of when.
Most cases of the bird flu have been the H5N2 strain, but the H5N8 strain has also been reported in California and Idaho.