Commonground
Senior Moderator
1/17/25
Bird flu hits Neosho
Newton County is experiencing its first bird flu outbreak in history.
First discovered late last week, Opal Foods in Neosho has been working closely with the Newton County Health Department and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to handle the situation.
“We’ve been aware of it since the onset, and have been monitoring employees all week,” said Larry Bergner, Newton County Health Department administrator.
“The company has been very forthcoming about everything and has taken every precaution needed to keep things under control.”
Opal Foods is a producer of Eggland’s Best eggs, Eggland’s Best Cage Free eggs, Eggland’s Best organic eggs, as well as Land O Lakes All-Natural Brown Eggs.
Ted Greidanus, executive vice president of Opal Foods, said the first positive results came back on Friday, Jan. 10, after Opal officials saw an increase in the mortality rate of birds at its Hathaway farm located southeast of Crowder in Neosho.
“Our protocols are that if we have an increase in mortality, we then automatically send a sample to be tested to the state lab and then to a USDA lab in Ames, Iowa,” said Greidanus.
“We received notice of the positive test from the USDA on Friday.”
-snip-
At this time, Greidanus said he believes the contaminant was airborne, basically a virus from wild birds that was in the air, coming in through the ventilation system at the one house at the Hathaway farm.
If everything goes according to plan, he said the Hathaway farm could be back up to full production in January 2026.
Greidanus: “It will take about two months to depopulate the houses, clean them, sanitize, get the farm released back to us from the USDA and then another 10-16 weeks to grow pullets.”
He said Opal employees are handling the cleanup, but the operation is supervised by the USDA.
“All of our people involved in this are going by CDC guidelines for PPE, which includes boots, full suits, masks, goggles, and gloves,” said Greidanus. “Our first concern is the safety of our people and the safety of the people in our community.
continued: https://neoshodaily.com/bird-flu-hits-neosho/
Bird flu hits Neosho
Newton County is experiencing its first bird flu outbreak in history.
First discovered late last week, Opal Foods in Neosho has been working closely with the Newton County Health Department and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to handle the situation.
“We’ve been aware of it since the onset, and have been monitoring employees all week,” said Larry Bergner, Newton County Health Department administrator.
“The company has been very forthcoming about everything and has taken every precaution needed to keep things under control.”
Opal Foods is a producer of Eggland’s Best eggs, Eggland’s Best Cage Free eggs, Eggland’s Best organic eggs, as well as Land O Lakes All-Natural Brown Eggs.
Ted Greidanus, executive vice president of Opal Foods, said the first positive results came back on Friday, Jan. 10, after Opal officials saw an increase in the mortality rate of birds at its Hathaway farm located southeast of Crowder in Neosho.
“Our protocols are that if we have an increase in mortality, we then automatically send a sample to be tested to the state lab and then to a USDA lab in Ames, Iowa,” said Greidanus.
“We received notice of the positive test from the USDA on Friday.”
-snip-
At this time, Greidanus said he believes the contaminant was airborne, basically a virus from wild birds that was in the air, coming in through the ventilation system at the one house at the Hathaway farm.
If everything goes according to plan, he said the Hathaway farm could be back up to full production in January 2026.
Greidanus: “It will take about two months to depopulate the houses, clean them, sanitize, get the farm released back to us from the USDA and then another 10-16 weeks to grow pullets.”
He said Opal employees are handling the cleanup, but the operation is supervised by the USDA.
“All of our people involved in this are going by CDC guidelines for PPE, which includes boots, full suits, masks, goggles, and gloves,” said Greidanus. “Our first concern is the safety of our people and the safety of the people in our community.
continued: https://neoshodaily.com/bird-flu-hits-neosho/