More than 120 people attended the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) meeting on Low Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (LPAI) on March 27 in Atlanta.  The agency sought feedback as to the feasibility and impact of proposed policies and strategy changes.  The central focus of this meeting was to discuss proposed policy changes related to indemnity and compensation rates for LPAI outbreak response activities and decision determination for controlled marketing/slaughter.   The meeting also provided the opportunity to discuss challenges and possible solutions for an LPAI incident, or outbreak, in the table egg and upland game bird industries.

UEP President Chad Gregory presented the group with the unique challenges associated with controlled marketing of eggs from a multi-house, multi-age flock farm and mitigating the risk of mutation of the virus to highly pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI).  UEP will continue to engage APHIS and other organizations in the industry on the topic of LPAI and ways to gain the funding necessary to eliminate the virus when detected.