ST. LOUiS – Michael Foods, a business unit of Post Holdings Inc., is the latest poultry company to have a flock test positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The facility is in Nebraska, and houses approximately 2 million birds, making up 4% of Michael Foods’ egg production, according to the company.
Post Holdings said it would not comment further on the issue unless subsequent incidents exceed 5% of Post’s controlled egg supply.
Post Holdings is the latest poultry company to be hit by an HPAI outbreak. Hormel Foods Corp., Austin, Minn., announced in late March that a flock supplying its Jennie-O Turkey Store business in Meeker County, Minn., had tested positive. In February, Tyson Foods Inc. confirmed a flock of 240,000 of its broiler chickens in Fulton County, Ky., tested positive.
As of April 11, HPAI had been identified in 112 commercial flocks throughout the country, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
