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Food Safety

Bird Flu News: Georgia Halts In-State Poultry Transactions, France Resumes Exports

Jan. 20, 2025

Georgia, the country's top chicken producer, last week recorded its first case of avian influenza.

There was news on bird flu over the past week. Officials in Georgia, the country's top producer of chickens, on Jan. 17 halted all in-state poultry sales because of the first appearance of avian influenza in the state. The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services awarded $590 million to Moderna to speed development of bird flu vaccines. And the U.S. and Canada resumed buying poultry products from France after an apparently successful nationwide vaccination campaign there.

For the first time since the 2022 nationwide outbreak, bird flu hit a poultry producer in Georgia, in Elbert County, prompting state officials to halt all poultry sales and transfers within the state.

The U.S. government first awarded $176 million to Moderna back in July to develop a bird flu vaccine for humans, and last week HHS increased the funding. The pharmaceutical company's influenza vaccine uses mRNA technology similar to what it used to create Covid-19 vaccines.

As bird flu swept through Europe in 2023, the U.S. enacted import bans. In October 2023, France became the first major poultry exporter to vaccinate farm-raised ducks nationwide. While there was some debate that vaccinated birds might mask infection signs, the U.S. and Canada were convinced enough to lift restrictions last week.

France exports ducks and avian genetics, including hatching eggs and day-old chicks. U.S. and Canada reportedly also are removing at least duck restrictions on other European nations.

As we reported earlier, a 65-year-old Louisiana man with underlying health conditions earlier this month became the first U.S. death from bird flu, apparently infected by a backyard flock. And in December, California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently declared a state of emergency due to the appearance of bird flu in that state.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.