How to dispose of livestock and poultry infected with avian influenza in a harmless manner?

Home > Hazards of avian influenza

Hazards of avian influenza

sunrise
February 5, 2025

Introductory

Avian influenza, as a highly contagious viral disease, poses a serious threat to the global livestock and poultry farming industry. Especially in 2025, the outbreak of avian influenza in the United States not only led to the death of a large number of livestock and poultry, but also had a far-reaching impact on the entire livestock and poultry industry chain. In this paper, the hazards of avian influenza on livestock and poultry will be discussed in detail in the light of the actual situation of avian influenza in the United States in 2025.

Overview of the avian influenza epidemic

In 2025, the United States was severely challenged by an unprecedented avian influenza outbreak. According to authoritative reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Agriculture, the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus is rapidly spreading across multiple states, causing massive deaths in both poultry and wild birds. The outbreak was initially concentrated on poultry farms in the Midwest, but has since spread rapidly across the country and the situation is becoming increasingly dire. Even more worrisome was the subsequent cross-species spread of the outbreak, with the virus being detected not only in poultry, but also in dairy cattle populations, which in turn led to a number of human infections associated with dairy cattle, further complicating and worsening the situation.

Risks of avian influenza to the farming industry

1. Death of livestock and poultry

The direct harm of avian influenza viruses to livestock and poultry is that it leads to massive deaths. the lethality of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses is extremely high, and once livestock and poultry are infected, it is often difficult to save them and ultimately leads to death. This not only brings direct economic losses to farmers, but also seriously affects the market supply and price stability of livestock and poultry products.

In the avian influenza epidemic in the United States in 2025, a large number of poultry farms were hit hard and millions of poultry died. The disposal and burial of these dead livestock and poultry also posed significant challenges and costs.

2. Increased farming costs

The outbreak of avian influenza has led to a significant increase in farming costs. In order to prevent and control the spread of the epidemic, farmers need to take a series of epidemic prevention measures, such as strengthening feeding management, improving biosecurity, and conducting vaccination. All these measures require substantial investment in human, material and financial resources.

In addition, as a result of livestock deaths and reduced production due to epidemics, farmers often need to replenish new livestock and poultry populations, which also increases farming costs. At the same time, epidemics may also affect the growth performance and feed conversion ratio of livestock and poultry, further increasing farming costs.

3. Market volatility

The avian influenza epidemic had a significant impact on the market supply and prices of livestock and poultry products. As a result of the death of a large number of livestock and poultry and the reduction in production, the market supply dropped drastically, leading to a surge in the prices of livestock and poultry products. This has not only affected consumers’ purchasing power and quality of life, but may also trigger social instability.

At the same time, the uncertainty of epidemics also leads to high price volatility of livestock and poultry products. It is difficult for both farmers and consumers to accurately predict market trends, which poses a great challenge to the stable development of the livestock and poultry industry.

4. Public Health Risks

Avian influenza viruses not only threaten the health of livestock and poultry, but can also pose a risk to human public health. Although human-to-human transmission is relatively rare, once humans are infected with avian influenza viruses, they tend to be seriously ill and have a high mortality rate. The outbreak of avian influenza has therefore triggered public concern over food safety and public health safety.

In the avian influenza outbreak in the United States 2025, there have been a number of cases of human infection with avian influenza viruses. These cases indicate that avian influenza viruses may spread from livestock to humans, posing a potential threat to human health. In order to prevent the spread and propagation of the epidemic, we should have taken stringent preventive and control measures, including strengthening the monitoring of the epidemic, restricting the circulation of livestock and poultry products, enhancing personal hygiene and protection, and harmless disposal of dead and diseased livestock and poultry.

How to dispose of livestock and poultry infected with avian influenza in a harmless manner?

In dealing with culled and dead animals and poultry, common methods include deep burial, incineration, rendering plant and fermentation.

Among these methods, the rendering plant is more suitable for the treatment of dead and sick animals infected with avian influenza than the other methods, and it can achieve batch, large-scale, harmless treatment of infected animals and poultry, and eliminate pathogens in the carcasses.

Advantages of rendering plant

.1. Efficient sterilization:

   – Through the high temperature and high pressure environment, the chemical system can quickly and effectively kill pathogens in livestock and poultry carcasses, including avian influenza viruses, etc., to ensure that the treated material does not carry active viruses.

2. Thorough treatment:

   – The chemical system method can completely transform livestock and poultry carcasses into other forms of substances, avoiding the possibility of pathogen residues.

3. Reduced land occupation:

   – Compared with the deep burial method, the chemical system method does not need to occupy a large amount of land resources, especially in areas where land resources are tight, this advantage is particularly obvious.

.4. Reduced risk of pollution:

   – Incineration may produce harmful gases and soot, causing secondary pollution to the environment; while deep burial may cause long-term pollution to soil and groundwater. The chemical system method is relatively closed during the treatment process, which reduces the emission of harmful substances and has less impact on the environment.

5. Resource recycling:

   – The products treated by the chemical system method, such as grease and bone meal, can be used as chemical raw materials, bio-fertilizers, biodiesel and other recycling resources, with good economic benefits and environmental significance.

6. Simple and efficient treatment

-Compared with the deep landfill and incineration methods, the chemical system method is more efficient in treating a large number of livestock and poultry carcasses, which reduces the investment of manpower and time.

7. Long-term cost-effectiveness:

   – Considering the scarcity of land resources and the importance of environmental protection, the chemigation method is likely to be more cost-effective in the long run. In addition, treatment costs can be further reduced by recycling and utilizing the treated products.

8. Wide range of application:

   – The chemosynthesis method is applicable to the treatment of livestock and poultry carcasses of various scales, and can be adopted by both small farms and large slaughterhouses.

9. Flexible treatment:

   – The chemical system method can be adjusted according to the actual situation of the processing parameters, such as temperature, pressure and time, in order to adapt to the different types and sizes of livestock and poultry carcasses treatment needs.

In summary, rendering plant has significant advantages in treating livestock and poultry infected with avian influenza, not only can it effectively kill pathogens and reduce environmental pollution, but also has the advantages of resource recycling and long-term cost-effectiveness.

We at sunrise rendering provide advanced rendering plant equipment all over the world.

--- END ---