Cal-Maine Foods reported that a company facility in Kansas tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), affecting approximately 684,000 laying hens, or approximately 1.6% of the company’s total flock.
Production at the facility has temporarily ceased as the company follows the protocols prescribed by the USDA. Cal-Maine Foods is working to secure production from other facilities to minimize disruption to its customers.
This is the first case of HPAI to appear in a Cal-Maine Foods flock to date.
“Cal-Maine Foods believes it has implemented and continues to maintain robust biosecurity programs across all its locations. Additional strict protocols are in place designed to prevent exposure from the Kansas facility to other locations, including the company’s nearby layer complex which houses approximately one million hens. The company continues to work closely with federal, state and local government officials and focused industry groups to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks and effectively manage the response,” the company said in a statement.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has been reporting HPAI cases in commercial and backyard farms, and ordinarily updates its website around 11 a.m. daily. However, as of 11:30 a.m. on December 13, this case had not been reported.
The last confirmed case in a commercial flock in Kansas listed on the APHIS website was a commercial upland gamebird operation in Mitchell County. That case was confirmed in February.
Cal-Maine Foods operates an egg production facility near Chase, Kansas, which is in Rice County. The Chase operations have been the site of two recent fires, with one occurring in 2021 and another in 2019.
Mississippi-based Cal-Maine Foods, according to the WATTPoultry.com Top Poultry Companies Database, is the world’s largest egg producer, with a flock of 44 million hens.
Cal-Maine is the second publicly traded company to report the presence of HPAI in its hen supply during the past week. Post Holdings, parent company of Michael Foods, announced on December 7 that it lost 4.2 million hens to HPAI infections at two of its facilities.
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.
To learn more about HPAI cases in commercial poultry flocks in the United States, Mexico and Canada, see an interactive map on WATTPoultry.com.
