Milder bird flu found at Jennie-O farm in Wisconsin

Published 9:54 am Wednesday, March 8, 2017

BARRON, Wis. — Officials confirmed a low-pathogenic bird flu strain has been detected in a Jennie-O Turkey Store operation in western Wisconsin.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture posted notice of the case to the Organization for Animal Health’s website Tuesday. Austin-based Hormel Foods Corp., which owns Willmar-based Jennie-O, confirmed the H5N2 strain was detected Saturday at its Barron, Wisconsin, operation.

The USDA report said 84,000 birds are at the farm.

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According to a press release, it is the second case of bird flu reported at a U.S. commercial poultry operation in a week. The first case, reported late last week at a Tennessee chicken farm, is the highly pathogenic bird flu (HPAI) H7.

In a statement, Hormel said Jennie-O has no turkey flocks in that area of the country.