There is a pretty good chance that a chicken or egg eaten somewhere in the U.S. came from Pennsylvania.

The Keystone State is the fourth largest producer of poultry in America. The U.S. Department of Agriculture puts the number of chickens alone at 201 million, and that doesn’t count other farmed fowl such as turkeys and ducks. Poultry makes up more than 20% of the economic value of agriculture, the state’s largest industry.

Avian flu can be a huge threat. For 40 years, the periodic outbreaks have largely skipped Pennsylvania flocks, but that doesn’t make the potential impact any less scary.

It can be particularly alarming in the wake of COVID-19. For decades, we were told another pandemic like the 1918 influenza outbreak could happen again, but as years came and went and it didn’t happen, it was easy to think it never would. Now we know for sure those threats can come to pass.

And it’s hard to get a mask on a chicken.

No, really, when it comes to avian flu, the idea of prevention is taken seriously because birds refuse to socially distance. That means one infected bird can result in culling the flock to prevent spread. More than 22 million U.S. birds have been killed in 2022, making it the worst outbreak in seven years.

That was the year the Department of Agriculture advised strict protocols for biosecurity that mirrored covid quarantines. If you went to a county fair in 2015, you probably didn’t see chickens. Many FFA and 4H groups competed with pictures or cutouts of their fowl because they weren’t allowed to bring them for fear of spreading disease.

There is no threat to human health from avian flu. The danger for people is all economic.

For farmers — especially small, independent ones — the idea of destroying a flock is like burning down a restaurant or store. It’s the destruction of livelihood, but it’s also the only way to preserve the potential to continue. That is why poultry farmers don’t pull punches when it comes to protecting their flocks.

The other impact is for consumers. If you think eggs and wings are expensive now with inflation spiking food prices, farmers forced to put down more and more birds will only drive the cost of a dozen eggs at the grocery store or a dozen wings at the bar all the higher.

That Pennsylvania hasn’t been hit by the flu yet is not a reason for the state to ignore precautions. It’s a reason to embrace them for the good of our largest industry and our individual grocery bills.

— Pittsburgh Tribune-Review via AP