Most turkey losses occurred in Minnesota, the top turkey-producing state in the US.

WASHINGTON – US Department of Agriculture data shows 46,239,793 total poultry lost to avian influenza as of June 3, up 3.7 million from last week, with several cases still pending. There have been 212 detections, up from 187 last week. That includes:

• 38,630,440 chickens (about 40 percent of the national processing egg laying flock and mostly in top-producing Iowa),

• 7,530,720 turkeys (mostly in top-producing Minnesota) and

• 78,633 “mixed” poultry, which includes ducks and pheasants as well as some chickens and turkeys (mostly back yard flocks).

The meteoric rise in egg and egg product prices has slowed and even eased a couple of cents in the case of eggs, but prices for eggs remain historically high.