Tyson Foods Culls 15,000 Hens With Mild Bird Flu, Tests Poultry Farms In Arkansas

June 3, 2008 10:57 p.m. EST

Little Rock, AR (AHN) - Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat processor, started killing 15,000 hens Tuesday that were exposed to a bird flu virus not harmful to humans.

The company, based in Springdale, will also test chickens at poultry farms within a 10-mile radius of the farm where hens were tested positive for antibodies to the H7N3 strain of the bird flu.

The deadly bird flu strain is the H5N1, which have infected and killed more than 200 people worldwide since 2003.

Jon Fitch, director of the state's Livestock and Poultry Commission, was quoted by Birdflubreakingnews.com as saying that there was absolutely no human health threat from the birds.

The H7N3 strain in the hens was discovered during a routine pre-slaughter blood test of the chickens on Friday, Tyson officials said in a press statement. However, the chickens were not ill.

Tyson said all the destroyed birds came from a contractor. The birds's carcasses were buried.