In correspondence with the key officials overseeing the avian influenza outbreak and indemnification, The National Association of Egg Farmers (NAEF) on Wednesday, May 27, provided an indemnity plan for the egg layers being depopulated.  NAEF acknowledged to APHIS this avian influenza situation is unprecedented, and that disposal is monumental, but NAEF urged the USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to seek quick, but fair resolutions to these problems.  The officials receiving the indemnity plan were Dr. Lee Ann Thomas, APHIS Director of the Avian Health Center in Riverdale, MD, Burke Healey, the APHIS Incident Commander in Ft. Collins, CO, and in Washington, DC Dr. John Clifford, USDA’s Chief Veterinarian, and APHIS Administrator Kevin Shea

NAEF stated that included in these fair resolutions to the problems is the need to pay indemnities as outlined in 9 CFR part 56.4 (1) (a) which states, in part, 

“For laying hens, the appraised value should include the hen’s projected future egg production. Appraisals of poultry must be reported on forms furnished by APHIS and signed by the appraisers and must be signed by the owners of the poultry to indicate agreement with the appraisal amount. Appraisals of poultry must be signed by the owners of the poultry prior to the destruction of the poultry, unless the owners, APHIS, and the Cooperating State Agency agree that the poultry may be destroyed immediately.”

NAEF further delineated the regulation calls for appraisals agreed upon before the destruction of the poultry.  The farmers confirmed with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N2 [notifiable avian influenza] are awaiting confirmation of the agreed upon “projected future egg production” so they can take the needed steps to dispose, clean and disinfect in preparation for repopulating.

Dear Angela Chen,

We read with interest your article in today’s DowJones.com entitled “Dunkin’ Donuts Considers All Cage-Free Eggs.”  

http://www.wsj.com/articles/dunkin-donuts-considers-all-cage-free-eggs-1427728126

While Dunkin’ Donuts and your readers may conclude this move by a nationwide chain is aimed at improving the welfare of egg-laying chickens, the opposite is true.  Unfortunately some state legislators, including those in California that recently imposed new production standards on all eggs sold in that state, have embraced the false impression that conventional cages where 95% of the nation is currently producing eggs, somehow prevents the chicken from “standing up, lying down, turning around, and spreading its limbs.” 

So here are the facts for your readers and any other companies considering sourcing their egg needs from today’s farmers.  Every egg farmer knows that increasing the population size of a flock of chickens increases the stress on those chickens due to the establishment of a “pecking order” among the chickens.  The behavior inherent in chickens is to determine the social standing of the individual hens through “pecking” each other.  The lower in the social order is pecked the most.  When chickens are housed in conventional cages with 6 chickens, the establishment of this pecking order is minimized compared to 60 chickens in the California-style enhanced, colony cages, and even more so in an aviary (cage-free chickens) in a house with thousands of chickens.  The National Association of Egg Farmers is trying to educate consumers to this fact.  

Added to the pecking taking place, eggs laid on the floor in an aviary system have more pathogenic bacteria from contact with manure.  This is virtually eliminated in conventional cages where the birds stand on a wire and the manure falls below the cages and away from the eggs. 

Some eggs farmers, and those in California especially, are hopeful that changing to enhanced colony cages will obviate the objections by ones falsely claiming welfare considerations.  The Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply, a group of scientists who spent two years studying the implications of different housing systems also noted more keel bone (breast bone) deviations and broken bones in these enhanced cages compared to conventional cages.  In addition, the scratch pads and nest boxes in these enhanced colony cages had manure accumulating on them which contributed to more bacteria than the conventional cages.

Over the past five decades of improving the welfare of the chicken and improving the food safety of shell eggs with today’s conventional cages, unfortunately companies and misinformed readers believe it is better to return to the old days when eggs were laid near manure or the chicken suffered from the pecking order. This is false and harms both the chicken and the consumer.

Dear Editor of the Green Bay Press Gazette: Publishing today’s article “Industrial Agriculture To Blame in Bird Flu Outbreak” is unworthy of your readers due to the many untrue statements.  

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/opinion/columnists/2015/05/21/industrial-agriculture-blame-bird-flu-outbreak/27723767/

 The author from the Humane Society of the US (HSUS) referencing the emergence and spread of virulent strains of avian influenza has been attributed to “the overcrowded, unsanitary, and inhumane conditions in today’s industrial animal agriculture system”. What experts are making these claims and where is the science for such claims? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service Avian influenza is a viral disease that occurs internationally and can infect wild birds (such as ducks, gulls, and shorebirds) as well as domestic poultry (such as chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese).  This current outbreak has USDA reporting a number of flocks with this disease including a number of small backyard flocks, one with only 10 birds.  This certainly disputes the author’s claim of “overcrowding” is behind the disease. This is a flu for birds just as there is for people—and, as with people, some forms of the flu are worse than others. HPAI can spread fast and quickly kill chickens and turkeys. Wild birds, however, can carry HPAI viruses without appearing sick. Since December 2014, USDA has confirmed several cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 in the Pacific, Central, and Mississippi flyways (or migratory bird paths).So, the claims by federal officials that waterfowl is a likely source of the virus are not without merit. 

HSUS has tried repeatedly to besmirch the modern conventional cage systems in the egg industry today and the author’s statements of unsanitary condition is just one more attempt. Today’s modern conventional egg farm is regulated for food safety under the FDA egg safety law known as “Prevention of Salmonella Enteritidis in Shell Eggs During Production, Storage, and Transportation.  The FDA rule includes sanitation procedures along with cleaning and disinfection which are overseen by federal inspectors coming to every commercial egg farm.  The farms are also routinely swabbed to determine if Salmonella is even in the environment let alone the chicken or the eggs.  

The Green Bay Press Gazette readers should instead be informed that The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers the risk to people from these HPAI H5 infections to be low. No human cases of these HPAI H5 viruses have been detected in the United States, Canada, or internationally. This disputes the HSUS writer’s statement “In the wake of public health scares such as bird flu.”  He’s the one causing the scaring of the public by making false statements.

It’s unfortunate that the author with HSUS would use the unfortunate circumstance of a poultry disease to bring out misinformation supporting the misguided agenda of HSUS.  Hopefully your readers will realize this also.