Source:Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 6/9/15

USDA chief Tom Vilsack sees the cost of avian influenza outbreaks topping the $410 million budgeted to fight U.S. outbreaks, as Michigan becomes the 21st state to confirm bird flu exposure in the last six months.

Vilsack told editors at Bloomberg that fighting the spread of avian influenza will cost even more this fall — possibly more than $500 million — as cooler weather returns and the disease potentially resurfaces. An estimated 47 million chickens and turkeys have been affected by the H5N2 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) so far and the effect on egg-laying hens is being felt in restaurants, bakeries and other egg-dependent businesses nationwide. Vilsack told Bloomberg the USDA budget needs to be increased to handle the HPAI outbreak along with other crises like 2014’s PEDV outbreak among young pigs and citrus crop issues in Florida.

Meanwhile, state officials in Michigan have confirmed the presence of avian influenza in three baby geese in Macomb County and steps are being taken to manage additional potential cases in other flocks. The Michigan Dept. of Agriculture and Rural Development and other agencies are concerned even though the area of infection is 100 miles away from the state’s nearest commercial poultry farms. State officials have already canceled waterfowl and poultry exhibitions statewide for the rest of 2015 in order to contain the spread of the H5N2 stain of bird flu. 

Finally, Cuba has joined the list of nations that have suspended imports of U.S. chicken in the shadow of the avian influenza outbreak across 21 states, according to a report from Reuters. U.S. chicken exports to Cuba reached $147.5 million in 2014, according to the report. The outbreak has already initiated poultry trade bans in dozens of countries since the first U.S. outbreak was reported last December.

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