Mark Siemens is a third-generation egg farmer in B.C.’s Fraser Valley and he recalls his grandfather sharing a story about fighting an unknown disease that raced through the farm decades ago, forcing him to cull the entire flock.
Siemens didn’t expect to be facing a similar fight so many years later.
He noticed some birds seemed agitated a few weeks ago, showing symptoms of itchy eyes, and said he immediately called the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
The verdict was in by the end of the day: his chickens were infected with the highly pathogenic H5N1 variant of avian influenza.
“It’s super sad, and it’s a tough thing to go through when you know you care about these animals and you do everything you can to keep them healthy and make sure they’re looked after,” Siemens said in an interview.
His business is one of about four dozen flocks, most of them commercial, that have been infected with avian flu in British Columbia this fall. Infections flair during migratory seasons, as wild birds are considered the chief cause of infections.
Almost seven million birds have been culled at B.C. farms since the spring of 2022.
There were 45,000 birds on Siemens’ farm, including 30,000 egg-laying hens and 15,000 chicks.
“It’s a very emotional and stressful time,” said Siemens, whose barns are now “fully empty.”
“And you just feel like you have this daunting, overwhelming task of trying to get everything started again that really took years of building up,” he said.
They are now working to clean and disinfect, in collaboration with the inspection agency, to ensure that the barns are sanitized from “ceiling to floor.”
B.C.’s poultry industry raised its biosecurity level to red last month, the highest level.
Shawn Hall, a spokesman with the B.C. Poultry Association, said the current outbreak is very concerning for poultry and egg farmers, many of whom run family operations and the farm is their only livelihood.
Agriculture Minister Lana Popham said in a statement that the avian flu is taking a “heavy emotional toll” on poultry producers.
“B.C. poultry farmers are incredibly resilient, and I have seen firsthand how they come together to support each other during these challenging times.”
Derek Janzen has a poultry farm in Langley, B.C., and said he’s “very concerned” as the avian flu races through farms “like a wildfire” this year.
Janzen said he’s still haunted by having to cull his entire flock of 236,000 birds in December 2022, and has implemented a lockdown on his farm, keeping gates closed and minimizing any traffic.
“We basically have feed trucks that come to the yard to deliver the feed and an egg truck that comes on to pick up the eggs. And other than that, we don’t have too much traffic.”
He and his workers use personal-protective coveralls, boots, gloves, and proper N95-type masks while on the farm, Janzen said.
Siemens, too, said protective gear is standard on his farm.
When avian flu infections began in the area, they became vigilant, limiting the number of workers on site and doing everything they could to keep the virus out of the barns, Siemens said. But his chickens still became infected.
Siemens said he let all his workers take two weeks off during this “high-risk time,” while a third-party contractor came in to do the cleaning process, costing him several hundred thousand dollars.
“I didn’t want to put my workers through the emotional strain of that, but also to just not have them worried about getting sick,” said Siemens.
A teenager is in hospital with the H5N1 variant of avian flu, but health officials have said the teen had no connection to any poultry farms and it’s unclear how that person contracted the disease.
Siemens said after suffering from the loss, he didn’t even have the energy to worry about his health being at risk.
“As farmers, we will typically run ourselves into the ground to try to make sure our animals stay healthy,” said Siemens.
Janzen said he understands the pain that Siemens has been through, recalling the day trucks filled with CO2 arrived to euthanize the birds, and the supervisor asked him if he could turn off the fans to allow the carbon dioxide to do the work.
“And at that point, I kind of lost it. I broke down and then turned the fans off, and I walked out of the barn, and this is unbelievable, and within a couple of minutes, they were all gone.”
Hall said the association is working with health authorities to minimize the risks to farmers and their workers while actively monitoring for sick animals.
“The poultry and eggs that British Columbians buy in the grocery store are raised by farms in their region, and we’re committed to continuing to provide local food,” said Hall.
Siemens has had some promising news of sourcing some chicks for January.
“We’re looking forward to placing some chicks in the new year and after that we’ll start having eggs again, which will be a really exciting day here.”
But there’s still the compensation process to get through with the government, which will help to pay some of the bills, he said.
He said his grandfather, who came to Canada long ago as a Russian refugee and is now in his mid-90s, gives him hope and strength.
Siemens said the history of his grandfather’s trouble with his flock is a good reminder about resilience.
“We’ve been here before as a family, and we’ll get through it again,” said Siemens.
Source: The Canadian Press
Letter to the Editor: Workplace injury numbers in poultry industry need closer look
As FSN noted recently, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that poultry slaughter plants had a huge and unprecedented reduction in the number of workers injured this year: the industry injury rates were more than halved from the year before. The BLS data also showed that poultry plants reduced their most serious work injuries that involve lost time or restricted duty by more than two thirds in just one year. What the FSN story didn’t report was that these numbers are based on data collected and reported by the industry, and the data are not checked or validated. Though the FSN story led with a celebration of these numbers, there are very serious questions about these self- reported numbers and whether they are real or a mirage.
Over the past decade three government agencies (USDA, OSHA and NIOSH) have found that the poultry industry’s self-reported injury numbers are seriously underreported. Congressional investigations also documented this in a 2021 Congressional Committee report that found that the poultry industry flagrantly underreported the number of their workers sick with COVID-19 by two thirds.
Many of us were startled to see this one year unprecedented decrease in self-reported cases by the industry. For those of us that follow worker safety in the industry, we didn’t hear from workers about any new improvements or changes that would lead to this drop. The last published studies of repetitive trauma injuries, like carpal tunnel syndrome, in poultry plants were performed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in2012 and 2014. NIOSH performed medical exams and found alarmingly high rates of carpal tunnel syndrome among line workers — rates from 34 percent to 42 percent.
Taking a closer look at these BLS numbers may help explain why they may be a mirage: BLS numbers are calculated from a company’s self-reported injury logs that contain only those injuries/illnesses that the company deemed were work related and where the worker received medical treatment from a doctor. If the plant does not send workers to a doctor for treatment, they would have very few cases on their logs.
In poultry plants, government investigations found that injured and ill workers were seen in onsite health units and rarely referred to a doctor for medical evaluation and treatment. The onsite clinic staff only provided first aid to the injured worker—not ‘medical treatment’ that would be considered a ‘recordable’ injury.
A recent article in the American Medical Association’s Journal of Ethics documented myriad government investigations in big poultry plants that found that the onsite health clinics routinely send injured and ill workers back to jobs that cause their injuries, instead of sending workers to a doctor for a diagnosis and treatment. In some cases, workers went to the onsite clinics dozens of times with the same injury, never to be sent to a doctor. In these cases, effective treatment was delayed, and workers’ injuries worsened leading to surgery and other bad outcomes.
When a worker’s condition worsens and they then go to see a doctor on their own, the companies claim these injuries are not work related. The companies don’t pay for the medical treatment, and the injuries are not recorded. Studies and investigations also found that workers may be intimidated into not reporting work related injuries and illnesses for fear of losing their jobs.
The high turnover in the poultry industry, between 60 percent to 150 percent a year, is often thought to be a consequence of injured workers who can no longer do the job, don’t get to be seen by a doctor to get adequate diagnosis and medical treatment to recover —and must leave the industry. Of course, these injuries are also not recorded on the companies’ logs.
A closer look behind these numbers is warranted. What incredible improvements implemented last year have led to this drop? Are these low recordable injury rates really a reflection that the companies are much safer?
Source: Food Safety News