Topline
Elon Musk, billionaire aide to President Donald Trump, said on X on Thursday morning that former President Joe Biden’s administration ordered “an insane slaughter of 150 million egg-laying chickens”—mischaracterizing the former administration’s compliance with a Department of Agriculture policy still being followed under Trump.
Key Facts
Musk quote-tweeted a post on X on Thursday morning alleging that Biden killed chickens, leading to higher egg prices, saying: “It’s true. There was an insane slaughter of 150 million egg-laying chickens ordered by the Biden administration.”
But, the killing of chickens infected with avian flu, or in stocks where it was present, is known as a “stamping-out policy” and is followed by the USDA, which states there is no treatment for highly pathogenic avian flu and “the only way to stop the disease is to depopulate all affected and exposed poultry.”
The current bird flu outbreak began in February 2022, and since then the USDA estimates 166.38 million birds have been killed through depopulation efforts to contain the disease.
While the majority of those killed occurred during Biden’s presidency, the practice has continued since Trump took office and an estimated 13 million birds have been affected since February.
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What Is The Usda’s Policy?
The USDA and its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service states that if avian influenza is detected, the flock be depopulated and disposed of to prevent further spread. Birds are “destroyed usually within 24–48 hours of detecting the disease,” and the USDA pays farmers for the birds that have to be destroyed. The agency can also help in the disposal process. After that, farmers are required to “thoroughly clean and disinfect” their barn, equipment and infected areas and no poultry can return for two weeks. The USDA then tests the environment to confirm the virus is gone and farmers are able to restock their birds.
What Is The Trump Administration Doing To Address Bird Flu?
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced late last month the government was making a $1 billion investment “to curb this crisis and make eggs affordable again.” The money will go to helping poultry producers “implement gold-standard biosecurity measures,” providing financial relief to farmers whose flocks have been impacted and researching vaccines and therapeutics for chickens.
Is The Trump Administration Changing The Policy To Kill Infected Flocks?
No. Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, criticized the past administration on CBS in mid-February, saying the “Biden plan was to just, you know, kill chickens, and they spent billions of dollars just randomly killing chickens within a perimeter where they found a sick chicken.” Hassett then said the government was working on a way to ensure not all chickens in a flock that has an infection need to be killed—though Rosemary Sifford, chief veterinary officer for the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, told stakeholders shortly after that there were “no anticipated changes to our current stamping-out policy at this time.” However, in the USDA’s announcement of the $1 billion investment, it said the agency will be “hyper-focused” on a strategy to reduce the occurrence of and “minimize depopulation of egg laying chickens.”
Key Background
The outbreak began on Feb. 8, 2022 and remains ongoing. The outbreak has led to higher egg prices, with prices in January being 53% more than the previous January, according to the Consumer Price Index. The higher price of eggs, and groceries in general, was politicized throughout last year’s presidential election, and has continued to be as Trump allies like Musk and Rollins attack Biden for high egg prices. Since the start of the year—and after Trump took office—egg prices have continued to increase, and stores have begun limiting how many eggs consumers can purchase because of the low supply and high demand. Some breakfast restaurants, including Waffle House and Denny’s, have placed surcharges on meals with eggs to cope with the prices.
Big Number
41%. That’s how much the USDA warned egg prices may increase through 2025 because of the impacts of the bird flu outbreak.
Further Reading
Egg Shortage: Trump Administration Announces $1 Billion Plan To Lower Egg Prices (Forbes)
U.S. officials walk back plans to stop culling poultry for bird flu (CBS News)
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