Industry News - AM

Mississippi takes avian flu precautions


By Meatingplace Editors on 4/10/2017

Mississippi is implementing new measures at poultry sales and exhibitions because of recent avian influenza outbreaks in the Southeast, the Mississippi Business Journal reported.

No poultry — including chickens, ducks, turkeys, quail, pheasants and pea fowl – will be allowed from Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky or Georgia because of their current outbreaks, Dr. Jim Watson, state veterinarian with the Mississippi Board of Animal Health, told the publication.

Only Mississippi birds that are part of the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) program can be shown or sold at public events. Birds from states other than the four where outbreaks have occurred must have proof they are from an NPIP-Avian Influenza Monitored Program or have a negative avian influenza test.

The article notes Mississippi’s $2.9 billion poultry industry avoided an outbreak in 2015 that led to the destruction of 50 million birds in the Midwest.


 
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