After experiencing the impacts of the 2015 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak in the egg industry, as well as the most recent HPAI findings in the U.S., the United Egg Producers (UEP) and American Egg Board (AEB) have put together a proactive HPAI plan for egg producers to prepare commercial producers with tools and resources.
A proactive plan
While the overarching goal of the updated HPAI Plan is to be the egg industry’s first unified, strategic approach to national issue management and crisis communication, the two organizations made it clear that they are also following the USDA APHIS's lead concerning best practices in the event of an HPAI outbreak.
“The world has changed since 2015. This has huge implications for us as an industry in terms of an HPAI outbreak in a commercial flock,” stated Marc Dresner, AEB Director of Integrated Communications. “Everything from now on will be filtered by consumers through the COVID-19 lens. We are working to understand the post COVID consumer mindset and how that plays into consumer messaging for a major outbreak,” explained Dresner.
Additionally, UEP and AEB confirmed that Americans overwhelmingly trust eating eggs sold in the U.S. because the system is trustworthy and rely on receiving information about food safety from the USDA and the CDC. However, 45% of consumers are concerned about contracting bird flu from contact with poultry meat or products.
“The goal of the plan is for all stakeholders to speak with one voice and respond to and support the egg industry and affected producers with effective, accurate communication.” stated Kathy Bryan, UEP Director of Communications.
Plan objectives
Strategic objectives in the HPAI plan include protecting the egg industry’s reputation, reassuring consumers that eggs are safe, maintaining consumer confidence and providing one voice with aligned leadership concerning communication to the public about the egg industry.
Additionally, egg producers will be provided with counsel and guidance, media relations support, access to subject matter experts on HPAI topics, social media monitoring and reporting, and consumer testing/opinion surveys to assist them if an outbreak occurs. Access to producer specific resources will be located on unitedegg.com.
