Dutch agriculture ministry discovers bird flu on farm

The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation announced that avian influenza has been discovered on a poultry farm in Schore, Netherlands. Approximately 127,500 hens are planned to be culled.
It’s potentially the H7 variant, which can mutate into a dangerous, hen-killing variant, and is caused by wild birds’ stools, according to the ministry.
During the evacuation, which started March 25 at 8 a.m., there’s a prohibition of transportation in a zone of 1 kilometer around the farm of poultry, eggs, poultry stools and animal feed.

PA eggs get Ag Secretary stamp of approval

Pennsylvania eggs that have been certified under the voluntary Pennsylvania Egg Quality Assurance Program (PEQAP) meet some of the nation's highest safety standards, said Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding.
PEQAP's goals are to ensure that basic food safety preventative measures are put in place, including cleaning and disinfecting between flocks, environmental monitoring of production facilities and maintaining a biosecurity program. In relation to the ongoing egg recall, PEQAP served as the model for the Food and Drug Administration's new egg rule, which was announced on July 9 just days before the first recall was announced.

Avian pathologists seek comments on nomenclature

The welfare committee of the American Association of Avian Pathologists has reviewed terminology applied to flock management practices in the United States and made the following recommendations:
*“Cages” should be used in place of “batteries.”
*“Beak treatment” is to be used when chicks are subjected to infrared processing at the hatchery.
*“Beak trimming” should be used for manual hot blade trimming. The terms “debeaking,” “beak conditioning” or “beak cutting” should not be used for either process.
*“Induced molting” is preferred to “rejuvenating,” “recycling” or “reconditioning.”
The association welcomes readers’ comments and suggestions.