With confirmed cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in both the United States and the United Kingdom, Pilgrim’s Pride is intensifying its biosecurity practices in both regions, the company’s CEO said.
The avian influenza situation was addressed briefly by Pilgrim’s Pride CEO Fabio Sandri during a quarterly earnings call held on February 10.
“As you likely know, there has been reported cases of high path AI in wild birds in U.K. and in U.S. in the Carolinas, Virginia, Indiana and Florida, said Sandri, although he did not mention the confirmation of HPAI in a flock of 29,000 commercial turkeys in Dubois County, Indiana, which was announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on the previous day. He also didn’t mention that the virus had also appeared in a commercial turkey flock in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Pilgrim’s Pride, according to the WATTPoultry.com Top Companies Database, ranks as the second largest broiler company in the U.S., having processed 161.66 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis in 2020, while Pilgrim’s U.K.-based subsidiary Moy Park is the eighth largest poultry producer in Europe and the second largest in the U.K.
“Related to the U.K., we are closely monitoring the situation, but there has not been a significant impact to Moy Park. We have a strong biosecurity protocol and we have implemented extended measures in those regions where AI has been found,” said Sandri.
Also during the call Sandri and Pilgrim’s Chief Financial Officer Matt Galvanoni discussed the financial performance of the company during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021, as well as for the entire fiscal year.
The earnings call only included prepared remarks by Sandri and Galvanoni, and there was no question-and-answer session.
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.
