Producers May Have To Rely
(Continued from Page A 1)
equal about $53 billion yearly),
dealing with the “anti-ag” sector,
including animal rightists and
environmentalists, and science and
technology, with biotechnology
having a huge impact on diseases
such as salmonella, MS, A. 1., and
others.
“It will be a different day, and
it’s going to be a different way” at
USDA, said Luchsinger. “But
we’ll continue to be here and pro
tect animal agriculture and work
with you.”
Egg Quality
Assurance
One of the more successful
industry quality assurance prog
rams already in place is the Pen
nsylvania Egg Quality Assurance
Program (PEQAP), started in
February 1994. More than 80 per
cent of the state’s layer flocks are
voluntarily enrolled in the prog
ram, according to Dr. David
Kradel, industry coordinator of the
program, implemented by the Pen
nsylvania Poultry Federation.
Kradel raid that a big part of
PEQAP is the ongoing efforts to
reduce the presence of salmonella
enteritidis (SE) in flocks. PEQAP
uses a hazards analysis critical
control point (HACCP) philoso
phy that checks every level of pro
duction to ensure flocks are
disease-free.
A large part of the PEQAP
efforts are rodent control and com
plete disinfecting of houses
between flocks.
Kradel was on hand at the
PEQAP booth during the trade
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show portion of the Northeast
Poultry Show.
A.I. Threat
Also at the show. Dr. Charles
Beard, vice president of research
and technology at the Southeastern
Poultry and Egg Association,
spoke about the ongoing potential
threat that avian influenza (A. 1.)
poses to North American flocks.
What is particularly worrisome
is the fact that several states in
Mexico have millions of layers and
broilers heavily infected with the
highly pathological strain of A.I.
Twenty Mexican states have
shown serological evidence of
A. 1., 11 states have isolated the
A.I. virus, and two states have the
highly pathogenic A.I. Three states
that border Texas, including
Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and
Coqhuila, have serological evi
dence of A.I.
One of the states. Tamaulipas,
has “depopulated” seven seroposi
tive flocks. But their version of
“dcpopulaticm” simply means the
birds were marketed on the many
open live bird sales in Mexico
City, said Beard.
Many in Mexico who purchase
the birds aren’t aware of the dis
ease symptoms until too late. They
include an evidence of “no sing
ing” or complete silence of the
birds in houses, said Beard. The
birds are “very, very depressed,”
he said, “with a swollen face, blue
coloration to the cane, with severe
egg production drops for layers.”
Beard said the disease is very dis
astrous and “kills birds overnight.”
A.I. also wreaks havoc on broilers
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and turkeys.
What makes Mexico so unique
is that Mexico City itself, with a
huge open market of live birds, is
surrounded by many large poultry
operations with thousands of
infected birds. Waterfowl spread
the disease throughout the region,
much as what happened in Pen
nsylvania in 1983, when investiga
tors found out that migratory
waterfowl and open bird markets
contributed to the outbreak.
Mexican states such as Queret
aro, Jalisco, and Puebla have many
examples of 10,000 or more birds
infected with A.I. Problem is, in
Mexico, there is little incentive to
rid the flocks of A.I. since most
producers in the country simply let
birds die.
And Mexican officials claim
that many flocks, which should be
labeled as highly contagious, are
not because in the laboratory, six
out of eight birds must die. One
flock lab test showed four out of
eight birds dying, so it wasn't dec
lared by the Mexican government
as highly pathogenic.
Right now, “Everyone agrees
that a vaccine will not rid Mexico’s
industry of A. 1.,” said Beard. The
difficulty is often that the virus
which causes A.I. can remain mild
and not pose a problem—and then
suddenly turn “hot” and become
deadly, almost overnight.
Luckily, for U.S. poultry pro
ducers, new vaccines and vaccine
technologies will provide a way to
successfully control A.I. through
“engineered” viruses in cell cul
ture and recombinant technology.
When these vaccines become
licensed in the near future, it is
possible that producers in the U.S.
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could see nearly 100 percent pro- export markets for shell eggs and
tection from the disease. continue to expand the domestic
Producers, meanwhile, should and overseas markets for further
carefully inspect their production processed eggs,
programs and ensure that proper While the first and second quar
biosecurity is in place. “In general, ters may prove stronger for eggs
the industry is not really concerned than 1995, the feed costs will con
that biosecurity is a necessary part tinue to rise and continue to
of doing business,” said Beard, threaten profitability.
Also, live bird markets continue Pennsylvania ranks third in
to pose a problem, as do migratory overall productic nof eggs, behind
waterfowl. It is important that pro- Ohio, second, and California, first,
ducers be prepared by joining Indiana, fourth and Georgia, fifth
together with a quality assurance are continuing to see increases and
program, to continue serological could overtake Pennsylvania in
surveillance, to have a plan of overall production as new houses
action on the shelf, and check on are constructed.
the availability of a vaccine.
Whether there could be another
outbreak such as happened in Pen
nsylvania in 1983, Beard said, “It’s
a possibility this can happen, and it
is an industry decision as to
whether it does or does not.”
Egg Outlook
The second half of 1996 will be
a challenging time for all of the egg
industry, said Dr. Milt Madison, ag
economist in the animal products
branch of the USDA Economic
Research Service.
Madison told about 12S poultry
producers that because of a pro
jected 10 percent rise in com and
soybean feed prices next year, pro
ducers could be facing a price that
is 5 to 10 cents per dozen lower
than 1995 prices in the second half
of next year.
As a result, producers should
look toward developing more
California leads the nation in
egg production, producing 9 per
cent of the total, at 9 billion eggs.
Pennsylvania produces about S.S
billion eggs annually.
Projections for breaking and
further processing in 1996 are
about 1,600 million dozen eggs.
Per person consumption of eggs in
1996 will be 250 per year, of which
60 per person are egg products.
Twenty-eight peicent of egg pro
duction in 1995 went to egg
breakers.
Exports for eggs for 1995-1996
stand about about 200 million
dozen, about 3 percent of the total
eggs produced. Total exports of
eggs are valued at $l3O million in
1994. In Jan.-July, 1995, total
exports were valued at $B7 mil
lion, with Japan leading mark
et, followed by Canada and
Mexico.