Michael Foods could lay off more than 100 workers at its egg plant and growing facility in Wakefield, Nebraska, as a result of losses from avian influenza.
According to a report from KTIV, Michael Foods, a subsidiary of Post Holdings, has filed documents with the Nebraska Department of Labor concerning the layoffs, but state officials could not confirm if all the expected layoffs will happen and for how long people affected by layoffs will be without a job.
On June 18, Post Holdings revealed that because of avian influenza has been confirmed in several of its flocks, about 25 percent of the company’s egg volume commitments have been compromised. That number is actually an improvement over its previous projections. On May 27, an estimated 35 percent of those egg volume commitments were affected. However, a flock in Nebraska that had preliminarily tested positive for avian influenza went through a series of additional tests, and those tests showed that the virus was not present.
The City of Wakefield lies in two counties – Dixon and Wayne. All four of Nebraska’s confirmed cases of avian influenza have been in Dixon County, according to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
Bookmark WATTAgNet’s avian influenza update page for news and analysis about avian influenza and its impact on the poultry industry.
