Chicken news of the day

only 17 percent of the US gov't is shut down, so we are happy to report that Michelle's "move" organization is up and running, but apparently health and welfare sites are fair game:

Poultrynews reports that no poultry vaccine can be released.

of course, in previous shut downs this did not happen...so why did it happen this time? Incompetence, or a deliberate action to hurt the american people so that the evil republicans can be blamed for higher food prices and/or an epidemic?

Every time a company produces a batch of vaccine, it sends an analysis of that batch and samples to USDA/CVB, which then approves the release of the batch of product into the marketplace for commercial sale.  This is known as “serial release.”  Previously, this has been deemed an essential service that continues during government shutdowns, as these products play a crucial role in the protection of animal health and directly impact food safety and public health..

The poultry industry’s letter concluded, “Animal health vaccine release is an essential activity. With the far-ranging impact on food safety, human health and animal health, we are seriously concerned about the disregard of this fundamental understanding. We ask that appropriate funding be allocated immediately, so there are no interruptions at CVB.”

In other words, the vaccines have been produced, and the farmers are waiting for them to be shipped, but without a government bureaucrat giving the Okay, they will sit in storage and the chickens will remain unprotected from diseases such as bird flu, newcastle disease, viral bronchitis, etc.

photosource: http://www.askipedia.com/when-testing-for-avian-flu-in-people-pcr-tests-and-viral-antigen-tests-only-determine-the-existence-of-avian-influenza-how-do-they-determine-the-subtype/sick-chicken/

Remember this when the prices of chicken goes up and farmers go broke because they have to destroy infected flocks....

more at bizjournal.

"What will happen is they will run out of vaccine, and we will be in a position where we are unable to supply more and they will be forced to either cut back significantly on production or stop production completely," Wallace said.
He said reducing or stopping production would mean that some workers see furloughs of their own.
"As a business, it will have on us really less effect than it will for the producers," Wallace said. "One-hundred-ninety million doses of poultry vaccine sounds like a lot – and it is a lot of vaccine – but it's not a lot of dollars. … The real impact is to the food supply, food safety and potential human health implications of not being able to vaccinate these birds."

MSUCares site explains the need for vaccines in animals:

This is why we vaccinate poultry; so they are protected from explosive disease outbreaks. Viruses stimulate the development of better immunity than other types of microorganisms; so most poultry vaccinations are against viral diseases like Newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis, laryngotracheitis, fowl pox, and infectious bursal disease.



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