Wilbur-Ellis Feed has implemented an Avian Influenza biosecurity program at its facility in Gaffney, SC, in an effort to prevent the spread of the contagious viral disease.

The United States is on the tail end of the worst avian influenza outbreak in history, with 222 confirmed cases and more than 47 million birds affected across 15 states. USDA expects the outbreak to plateau near 50 million birds this summer.

Sunrise Farms, a chicken farm in Iowa that lost 3.8 million birds to avian influenza, is selling its stocks of feed on the local market.

Aidan Connolly, vice president of Alltech, released theresults of Alltech’s third annual global animal feed survey in a webinarJanuary 27. The survey found 963 million metric tons of feed was produced globallyin 2013, up 1 percent from 954 million the previous year.

Sales of poultry products in China may be showing some signs of recovery as fears over avian influenza H5N9 are calmed, and this is feeding through to improved sales of poultry feed. The change in consumer behavior could represent the beginning of the end of a difficult period for China’s feed producers.