Agriculture specialists with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) found live Khapra Beetle larvae and a number of dead adult beetles comingled within a shipment of rice from Saudi Arabia in Philadelphia earlier this month.
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a report on planning and preparations for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in advance of a potential recurrence of the disease when birds migrate south this fall.
Despite fewer outbreaks in recent months around the world, avian influenza remains a major concern for the global poultry industry, according to Rabobank’s latest Poultry Quarterly Q3 report.
It has been more than a month since the last case of avian influenza was detected in the US, but USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack is not ready to declare the outbreak over, according to a recent interview he gave with the Associated Press.
The avian influenza outbreak that has devastated turkey flocks across the country, including suppliers to Jennie-O Turkey store, has forced the company to layoff employees at a Minnesota plant.