U.S. officials walk back plans to stop culling poultry for bird flu
USDA officials said Wednesday there were no “expected changes” to current federal policy, requiring poultry house requisitions to cope with Bird flu Breaking out, it broke out Egg price Highs have been recorded in recent months.
The decision marks a condemnation of an idea raised by Trump administration officials in recent weeks to change policy. According to USDA report number.
“Byton’s plan was to kill chickens, they spent billions just killing chickens around, where they found a sick chicken,” said Kevin Hasset, director of the White House Economic Commission,.” Tell CBS News “Faced the Country” February 16.
The United States and most other countries have a “stampage policy” against bird flu to comply with standard This is the International Poultry Export of the World Animal Health Organisation or Wow.
“No changes to our current stamping policy are expected to occur at this time,” Rosemary Sifford, chief veterinary officer of the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, said on a call with stakeholders on Wednesday.
Biden administration officials defended that this method of phase-out is the best way to curb the outbreak and reduce unnecessary suffering of poultry birds, who may die from the disease.
“Bird flu is a very fast virus. Within a few days, it spread so quickly that most chickens died,” said Brooke Rollins, agriculture secretary, in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday.
But Rollins also reiterated the openness of changing the policy, saying they hope to fund research on certain pilot programs nationwide, which could help avoid phase-out infected birds.
She added: “Some farmers are willing to really try it on the pilots because we build safe perimeters around them to see if there is immunity to move forward.”
How authorities respond to bird flu outbreaks could also have a significant impact on the poultry industry in the United States More than $5 billion Poultry products from last year.
Egg prices rise
When the Trump administration launched, Seaford’s comments came A new plan Strike Egg prices rise Driven by the rise of the past winter Bird flu outbreak.
A former USDA official in the Biden administration said some new plans constitute a continuation of plans already developed in the department, or Virus.
A recent change official stressed that the USDA said when the problem is identified through a free audit provided to farmers, it will soon be paid “75% of the cost of addressing the highest risk biosecurity challenges faced by producers.”
Rollins also said the government is seeking to import eggs in the short term, and told White House reporters that negotiations could import as many as 100 million eggs over the next two months.
In a call with reporters, officials mentioned Türkiye as an example of a country that could export millions of eggs to the United States this year.
Officials also said they wanted to be “realistic” for temporary imports, citing food safety precautions for imported eggs. Private purchase of imported eggs will not be subsidized by the government.
Consider plans to vaccinate bird flu
A long-term change may be deployment Poultry Vaccinesthe Trump administration said it is now seriously considering it.
While the previous government has invested money in the research and development of new poultry vaccines against bird flu, vaccinated chickens can cause undetected bird flu infections to spread among flocks that show no symptoms.
The current outbreak in the United States has caused the virus to spread from poultry to raw pets, causing The death of a cat In several states.
Start an agreement for poultry exports to trigger any moves in the import ban due to concerns that food may be contaminated by the virus. A plan needs to be developed to alleviate these fears, and monitoring and testing for poultry for missed infections is required.
A former USDA official under the Biden administration said that daily meetings took more than a year to negotiate Safe recovery The country’s authorities have decided to start vaccinating ducks with bird flu, importing some poultry from France.
“We hope to launch the working group in the next two weeks and we will act quickly and develop a complete plan so that we can put it in front of our trading partners as soon as possible,” Sifford said on a stakeholder call.
USDA officials warned they have not really decided to start vaccinating poultry, citing potential impacts on exports.
Instead, the department plans to continue to support the development of vaccines. The study aims to overcome two long-term obstacles to using these lenses: attempts to achieve “sterilization” to stop the spread of the virus and make it easier for hundreds of birds to administer in commercial sheep.
“We will make sure we work to limit any impact on the export trade market, if there is a vaccination,” Kailee Buller, chief of staff of the department, told reporters.
