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February, 6 2023

The Rising Threat of Diseases and Foodborne Illnesses

The alarming spread of the bird flu disease

The Avian flu has impacted 60 million domestic birds throughout 47 states recorded. While egg prices continue to hit an all-time high, the virus is also mutating to infect other mammals including grizzly bears found in Montana (Flynn 2023).

The first founding of the avian flu was in 1878 derived from Northern Italy and was referred to as the “fowl plague.” Since the discovery, it was determined that this plague was caused by a virus, and in 1955 the virus was shown to be type A influenza, now termed Avian influenza A(H5NI) (NCIRD, 2022). Avian influenza is categorized into two strains, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which is extremely infectious, mostly fatal, and spreads rapidly as well as low pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI) which occurs naturally but does not cause illness (APHIS, 2023).

Outlook of the Avian Flu

This outbreak has caused an alert because of its rapid spread through various species of birds. In the 2014-15 outbreak, the virus became more contagious after farm-to-farm spread while today’s outbreak is more widespread because more migratory birds are interacting with domesticated birds and the areas that they live in are not being properly disinfected. This outbreak is more difficult to contain since it involves a variety of wild bird species. With this ongoing concern, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will be making a statement later in 2023, with public comment ending on February 17, 2023.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is announcing to the public the intent to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) to examine the potential environmental effects of the Agency’s response activities to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks in commercial and backyard poultry operations in the United States (APHIS, 2023)”

The Rise of Foodborne Illnesses

As avian flu continues to spike throughout the fowl, listeria remains a serious threat to the facilities in the food industry. The most recent recall is for over 50,000 pounds of meat potentially infected with this potentially deadly bacterium, listeria monocytogenes (Mayer, 2023). The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) found the potential contamination during a routine facilities inspection where listeria was located on surfaces in which the product was encountered (Mayer, 2023). Cross contamination and outbreaks will always be a threat to the food industry but containing the issue can be adhered to with proper protocols in place, including disinfection practices.

Stopping the Spread

SteraMist provides this needed protection as an EPA-registered disinfection solution, effectively eliminating a wide array of viruses, bacteria, and spore types typically left behind during manual cleaning and less effective disinfection methods. SteraMist addresses this threat on a variety of fronts: corrosion-free application gently treats surfaces, with the added benefit of a quick kill and no leftover residues to rinse, eliminating the need for post-treatment labor. This allows it to be easily implemented into an endless variety of environments to not only effectively preventatively combat cross-contamination, but combat emergency outbreak events with validated speed and precision.

Businesses and factories add SteraMist to their disinfection protocols in an effort to address cross-contamination and prevent a variety of health issues for both staff and products and revenue losses that can easily rise to millions of dollars. Ensure that your brand is protected, and your consumers are protected with SteraMist.