Wholesale turkey prices are on the rise this year and now may be a good time to go shopping for your Thanksgiving meal.
This being due to findings of bird flu that are directly impacting producers, which affects what we can find at the store.
Agrilife Extension Economist, David Anderson, PH.D says, "between avian influenza and high food costs, right there you have the recipe for higher prices. We see that right now at the store, whether we are wholesale or retail prices."
Per the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), also known as bird flu, has been confirmed in hunter-harvested blue-winged teal in southwest Louisiana. Additionally, several captive birds have died from HPAI in northeast Louisiana. While the virus presents a low risk to humans, it is important to avoid contact with sick birds. Also, be mindful that hunting equipment may transport the virus. Some general safety guidelines for hunters and others handling wildlife and their tissues include:
• Do not handle or eat sick game.
• Field dress and prepare game outdoors or in a well-ventilated area.
• Wear rubber or disposable nitrile gloves while handling and cleaning game.
• When done handling game, wash hands thoroughly with soap or disinfectant and clean knives, equipment, and surfaces that were exposed to game with hot soapy water and a 10% bleach solution.
• Do not eat, drink or consume tobacco products while handling animals.
• All game should be cooked thoroughly to an internal temperature of at least 165° F.
• Avoid contact with surfaces that appear to be contaminated with feces from wild or domestic birds.
• Hunters should not feed organs, viscera or carcasses to retrievers or leave carcasses to be consumed by other wildlife.
Some other protective measures include:
• As a general rule, observe wild birds from a distance, do not attempt to handle wild animals. Avoid contact with domestic birds (poultry) that appear ill or have died.
• People who work with poultry and wild birds should receive the annual influenza (flu) vaccine. This action reduces the potential for genetic changes in avian influenza, which may render the virus more apt to infect people, thus increasing the potential of pandemic influenza.
If you had close contact with infected birds or surfaces contaminated by them because you are responding to a bird flu outbreak as part of your job, your state or local health department should contact you. If you have not been contacted by your state or local health department after your exposure, contact them as soon as you can so they can help monitor your health.
People who become sick within 10 days of their exposure to infected birds should isolate at home away from their household members and should not go to work or school until they are proven not to have bird flu virus infection and have recovered from their illness. A health care provider may write you a prescription for an antiviral drug to treat your illness. The local or state public health department can assist in monitoring and advising when isolation is no longer required.
For more information, contact LDWF State Veterinarian Dr. James LaCour at jlacour@wlf.la.gov or LDWF Assistant State Veterinarian Dr. Rusty Berry at rberry@wlf.la.gov.
