Chicken

Veterinarian Becomes Disease Detective: Nichols Connects Animal Disease and Human Health

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 20:00:14 GMT

Growing up on a New Mexico ranch, veterinarian and public health leader Megin Nichols says she learned early the health of animals, humans and the environment are deeply connected.

Initially planning to practice small animal medicine, she says her plans began to pivot when she met a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) epidemic intelligence service officer who sparked her interest in public health. That realization led her to pursue a master’s degree in public health at the University of Minnesota, with a focus on food safety and biosecurity. Her career has included roles in local, state and federal health departments, investigating foodborne illness outbreaks and developing strategies to prevent them.

“Life has a way of taking you in places you never anticipated,” she shared during the 2025 Henry C. Gardiner Global Food Systems Lecture Oct. 6 at Kansas State University.

Today, as the CDC’s director in the division of foodborne, waterborne and environmental diseases, she lends her expertise to efforts involving disease investigation, food safety, antimicrobial resistance and agriculture literacy.

Megin Nichols has more than 15 years of zoonotic disease experience and has served at the federal and state levels. She has served as the lead of the Enteric Zoonoses Team investigating multistate outbreaks of Salmonella and E. coli. Prior to joining CDC, Nichols worked as the Principal Investigator of the Active Bacterial Core Surveillance Program at the New Mexico Department of Health for five years.

(Angie Stump Denton)

One Health: Connecting Animal Disease and Human Health

Nichols’ work focuses on the One Health concept.

“One Health is recognizing the health and well-being of humans, of animals and our environment are all interconnected,” she explains. “One Health is something that many of us do every single day and are very, very aware of, especially if you have ties to agriculture and the land. But One Health as a concept oftentimes is difficult to fully understand.”

Nichols says One Health is:

Ongoing relationships with animal agencies.
Understand the culture of agriculture.
Having access to integrated human and animal surveillance.
Protocols for conducting joint response investigations.
Agreements for sharing biological samples and lab results.
Established lines of communication with agriculture and animal industry.
Plans for unified communication messaging.
Need to build linkages and trust before and outbreak.

“What happens in one area can significantly impact others — whether it’s a wildfire, a disease outbreak or environmental changes,” Nichols summarizes.

Pandemic and Disease Response Insights

Nichols was a leader in investigating and finding unique solutions for the livestock industry and specifically meat packing industry related to COVID-19.

“In April 2020, I got a call from my supervisor saying there are some meat, poultry packing plants that are going down because of labor shortages and illness,” she explains.

She selected and lead a team to figure out how to get the plants opened back up safely and to find unique solution to deal with the related animal welfare issues.

Summarizing the experiences, Nichols reports the estimated economic cost of COVID-19 is $14 trillion. Along with supply chain disruptions the industry experienced changes in consumer behavior, labor shortage and complex operations challenges. On a positive note, she says the industry did experience a lot of innovation and uptake of technology due to the pandemic, which resulted in innovative approaches to workplace safety and communication.

“We saw innovative strategies where if one person got sick, they looked around that worker and said, ‘OK, who do we need to monitor quickly for symptoms?’” she says.

Nichols also discussed the increase in salmonella outbreaks during the pandemic. She links the rise to the increase in backyard poultry ownership and the improper handling of backyard chickens.

“Many new chicken owners were unaware of disease transmission risks,” she explains.

Nichols also shared insights to H5N1 influenza and emphasized the complexity of tracking and preventing. She highlights the need for integrated, cross-species surveillance and communication strategies.

She also touched on emerging threats, including New World screwworm (NWS) . Her message emphasized the importance of prevention, control and preparedness.

She shares these five key strategies related to NWS:

Surveillance. Early dection through wound inspections and reporting in livestock.
Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). Ongoing release of serile male flies to prevent reproduction.
Biosecurity. Movement control of imported animals and monitoring at entry points.
Public Awareness. Education for doctors, ranchers, veterinarians and travelers.
Rapid Response Planning. Multi-agency coordination to contain outbreaks swiftly and deploy sterile flies.

Agricultural Literacy, Communication is Key

“Growing up in the middle of nowhere, I also came to understand that not everyone appreciates — or even understands — where their food comes from,” Nichols says.

She shared a 1993 study that revealed significant gaps in public knowledge about agriculture. She summarizes understanding food systems involves knowing:

Where food comes from.
How it’s produced.
Its impact on economy, environment and technology.

Throughout her lecture she shared the importance of transforming complex scientific concepts into engaging, accessible insights that resonate with students, farmers, ranchers and public health professionals alike.

“It doesn’t matter how much information we have if we don’t get it out to the people,” Nichols says.

She stresses the importance of agricultural communication specialists in translating scientific information and engaging audiences.

“Don’t leave the communications to the scientists,” she says.

Nichols emphasizes that agricultural literacy and effective communication are crucial for bridging knowledge gaps and building public understanding of food systems.

She shares this advice for agricultural advocates:

Bring agricultural perspective to discussions by speaking up and sharing lived experiences.
Challenge misconceptions with personal stories by focusing on storytelling rather than technical details.
Understand your audience and use relatable language and provide context.

Nichols stresses the importance of preparedness and collaboration. She explains the importance of local-level discussions and community preparedness, suggesting that some of the most effective emergency preparedness conversations happen “at the coffee house” or during casual community gatherings.

More Funding Going to Tackle HPAI H5N1, Egg Imports are Now Underway to Stabilize Supply

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 20:49:05 GMT

On Thursday morning, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins gave an update on progress the Trump administration is making on the five-prong strategy it unveiled Feb. 26 to combat avian influenza virus type A (H5N1).

Speaking to industry stakeholders, media and offices of elected officials, Rollins focused on the administration’s work to lower egg prices and improve supply, while also emphasizing the importance of biosecurity in protecting U.S. poultry flocks from the virus.

Regarding egg prices, she said wholesale prices are down nearly 50% from their peak in late February from $8.53 then to $4.08 currently.

However, Rollins said she realizes that wholesale prices don’t automatically show up as reductions in retail prices.

“I know for some of us who are shopping that we’ve seen egg prices drop immediately, which has been true for me. But then we’ll hear from people in other parts of the country where they have yet to see that reduction on their grocery store shelf.”

With Easter just a few weeks away, she acknowledged that egg demand is always “unusually high during the season,” and that egg prices could potentially move back up.

To help address the egg shortage, Rollins noted that shell egg exports have declined by 8%, “keeping more eggs in the U.S. and lowering prices.”

In addition, the Trump administration is allowing egg imports as a temporary measure to stabilize prices and supply. Rollins’ chief of staff Kailee Buller said this measure would likely be discontinued once those measures were achieved.

USDA Focuses On Biosecurity For Poultry Operations
Rollins said biosecurity in poultry flocks will continue to be a major part of the Trump administration’s plan to address H5N1, moving forward.

“Our pilot programs have proven that biosecurity is the most important thing our farmers can do to protect our flocks against the disease, at least right now,” she said.

The USDA is working closely, she said, with its federal partners including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “combat avian flu as a unified federal family.”

On Wednesday, USDA announced it is expanding the availability of its biosecurity assessments to commercial poultry producers.

“These assessments, which were previously available on a limited basis have been extremely successful in improving biosecurity on individual premises and preventing the introduction or spread of avian influenza,” Rollins said.

While USDA is exploring the viability of vaccinating poultry for H5N1, she said the use of any vaccine for poultry or any animal species has not been authorized at this time.

“I know there has been some misreporting on that,” Rollins said. “The day we rolled out the plan, I actually talked about the fact that we’re not ready to vaccinate. We need to do some more research, and so that has not changed, but I do look forward to this next process of learning more about getting more research done and perhaps seeing what makes sense for the country moving forward, once that is concluded.”

Dairy Is Not Part Of USDA’s Primary H5N1 Focus
No information was offered during the conference call to address the issue of H5N1 in dairy cattle or other livestock or animal species.

Mike Watson, administrator of USDA-APHIS, said right now USDA is focused on the poultry vaccine.

“We’re looking for a vaccine that has sterilizing immunity but also an opportunity for us to have different introduction methods for the vaccine right now, as injections are the only possibility,” he said. “We need new tools, whether it’s water based, aerosol based, those kind of things. We’re looking for manufacturers to really look at what those options might be, to really provide us with a vaccine that matches the current strain but also is highly effective. And again, this is really focused on poultry.”

Buller said there is already quite a bit of research at USDA on the topic in dairy.

“Please rest assured, we are thinking of you all (in dairy). We know you all are impacted. But for this particular strategy, we have been hyper-focused on the poultry side. USDA has separate work streams as we’re working through this on the cattle and dairy side.”

One of the media asked whether Sec. Rollins had talked further with HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regarding his idea of letting H5N1 burn through poultry flocks to identify birds that might have immunity or show resistance to the virus.

Buller answered the question, as Rollins had stepped away from the call. “I have not been engaged specifically with those conversations with the Secretary and Secretary Kennedy,” she said. “They are talking very regularly and you are aligned on the approach, but in terms of that specific topic, there’s no further light I can shed on that at this time.”

Assessments Available To Poultry Operations
USDA is offering two different, free, voluntary biosecurity assessments for poultry operations not currently affected by HPAI.

The first is a wildlife biosecurity assessment. The second is a general biosecurity assessment. Poultry producers can request one or both of these free assessments.

Per the wildlife biosecurity assessment, Rollins said USDA will conduct on-farm assessments at poultry facilities and provide recommendations to producers for facility repairs and wildlife management techniques. The assessments include a series of regular engagements, including wildlife hazard identification surveys, wildlife abundance surveys and wildlife management on the premises.

“USDA has assessed approximately 130 facilities to date (in 2025), and plans on doing significantly more moving forward and expanding that program,” she said.

For the general biosecurity assessment, USDA will work with poultry producers to review biosecurity plans and physical measures.

“This is a proactive resource for premises that are outside of avian flu control areas to identify and mitigate potential biosecurity gaps,” she said.

Funding Is Ramped Up To Address HPAI In Poultry
The USDA announced on Thursday that up to $100 million in funding will be available to support projects on avian influenza, prevention, therapeutics, vaccines and research.

“USDA will invest up to $100 million in these projects, which will identify and foster innovative solutions to fight avian flu and directly support American producers,” Rollins said during the conference call.

Funding is available through a competitive process to for-profit organizations, including manufacturers of vaccines, biologics and therapeutics, as well as states, universities, livestock producer organizations and other eligible entities, she noted.

USDA will prioritize one or more of the following. First, it will support the development of novel therapeutics to address HPAI in poultry. Second, it will support research to further understand the risk pathways of avian influenza for producers and to inform improved biosecurity and response strategies.

“Let me just say, as a quick aside, I’ve had multiples and multiples and multiples of conversations with some of our chicken farmers across the country —many of them have been highly successful at not having the bird flu infect their populations,” Rollins said. “Better understanding of risk pathways and realizing what best practices are is a big part of (this work).”

The third focus is on the development of novel vaccines to protect poultry from H5N1 while promoting biosecurity.

“That will all be part of the research funding opportunity that we announced about an hour and a half ago,” Rollins said.

USDA will test the efficacy of therapeutic interventions to prevent the virus and treat infected flocks.

“USDA, in consultation with HHS, has already had multiple conversations with Secretary Kennedy and leaders in the NIH and CDC, but will also be exploring prevention strategies to promote biosecurity in agriculture and in humans, to ensure limited impact on American farmers,” Rollins noted.

USDA is offering a webinar to assist interested applicants in learning more about the funding opportunity and how to submit a proposal on Tuesday, April 1 at 12 p.m. Eastern. No details on how to participate in the webinar have been communicated yet.

“As we try to do everything under this president and here at USDA, we will be as fast and efficient and effective as we can possibly be, working around the clock,” Rollins said.

Buller added that Sec. Rollins and her staff will continue to host update calls regularly.

“It’s very important to Sec. Rollins that we are showing progress on this five-prong plan and being honest and open with the public about what we’re up to and the progress and potential challenges that we have ahead,” Buller said. “We have an open door here, and we remain open to having conversations and hearing from stakeholders.”

Bonehead Lawsuit and Other Signs of the Looming Apocalypse

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 20:58:08 GMT

It’s becoming harder to know just what we should be worried about. Each day, it seems, we’re presented with an event some believe will either crush the economy, endanger our health or turn us into full-throated vegetarians.

In December, for instance, we learned about an enterprising young man who lost about $32 Billion in a matter of days. Sam Bankman-Fried, now known as the notorious former CEO of crypto exchange FTX, was arrested by the Feds and charged with a laundry list of crimes that included wire fraud and money laundering.

I’m not sure which is more dizzying, attempting to understand cryptocurrency, a digital currency, which is an alternative form of payment created using encryption algorithms, or the fact Bankman-Fried coaxed people to invest billions in his… ummm…. enterprise. And if that doesn’t make your spurs rattle, consider that Bankman-Fried allegedly directed tens of millions of dollars to be sent illegally to BOTH the Democratic and Republican election committees. Maybe those donations fall under the CYA category.

Before we move on from the crypto world, there’s news that German and US authorities, supported by Europol, are investigating ChipMixer, an unlicensed cryptocurrency mixer that is apparently a major player in the cybercriminal world. Before this morning, I couldn’t have distinguished between Chex Mix and ChipMixer, but that’s where we are.

The Department of Justice called ChipMixer a “darknet cryptocurrency ‘mixing’ service responsible for laundering more than $3 billion worth of cryptocurrency” to support their activities of “ransomware, darknet market, fraud, cryptocurrency heists and other hacking schemes.” The DOJ seized two domains and more than $46 million in cryptocurrency.

The crime, according to the DOJ, was that ChipMixer specialized in mixing or cutting trails of virtual currency assets. ChipMixer’s software blocked the blockchain trail of funds, making it attractive for cybercriminals seeking to launder illegal proceeds from criminal activities such as drugs or ransomware attacks.

Tales of these modern cybercriminals makes one long for simpler times when we could just make fun of folks for making a public display of their stupidity. Wait…we still have plenty of instances of old-fashioned dimwitted decisions.

(Farm Journal)

First, I call your attention to Van Leeuwen’s new Hidden Valley Ranch ice cream. Yep, they have mixed the flavor of ranch dressing with ice cream. Most of us probably like ranch dressing and ice cream, but together?

Van Leeuwens is banking on the idea some folks will like this mixture (the ingredients include onion powder and garlic powder) and a press release encourages customers to “top your scoops with crushed pretzels or potato chips for a perfect salty crunch.” Your cholesterol be damned, I suppose.

But the prize for most boneheaded activity of the week – and a clear sign that the apocalypse may be closer than we think – is a new lawsuit targeting Buffalo Wild Wings, the popular casual dining restaurant and bar with nearly 1,300 locations.

A Chicago man sued the restaurant chain last week for false advertising, claiming the boneless wings are overpriced since they are just “slices of chicken breast meat deep-fried like wings,” and that diners would either pay less for the boneless wings or not purchase them at all if they knew what the product was made of.

Never mind that this Chicago man is apparently the only one in America unable to deduce that these diced, batter-fried morsels of yard bird are, in fact, not wings. His clever lawyer submitted to the court: “This clear-cut case of false advertising should not be permitted, as consumers should be able to rely on the plain meaning of a product’s name and receive what they are promised.”

Not to be outdone, Buffalo Wild Wings has cleverly responded.

“It’s true,” the restaurant chain tweeted on Monday. “Our boneless wings are all white meat chicken. Our hamburgers contain no ham. Our buffalo wings are 0% buffalo.”

It’s true.
Our boneless wings are all white meat chicken.
Our hamburgers contain no ham.
Our buffalo wings are 0% buffalo.
— Buffalo Wild Wings (@BWWings) March 13, 2023

Second Mistrial In Poultry Price-Fixing Case

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 19:37:42 GMT

The U.S. Justice Department has tried and failed twice in its efforts to prove price-fixing among chicken industry executives.

A federal judge in Denver has declared a second mistrial after a jury deadlocked over whether 10 chicken company executives had conspired to fix prices. The first trial ended in December 2021.

U.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer ended the case on March 29 after jurors said they were unable to reach a verdict after four days of deliberations. The 10 executives had worked for Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., Perdue Farms LLC, Claxton Poultry, Tyson Foods Inc., Koch Foods Inc., Case Farms and George’s Inc.

The DOJ alleged the executives engaged “…in a continuing combination and conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by rigging bids and fixing prices and other price-related terms for broiler chicken products sold in the United States.”

Should the government seek a third trial as they have indicated, Judge Brimmer is demanding an explanation from the head of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter.

“I am going to order that the head of the antitrust division come in here within the next week and look me in the eye and explain to me why the government is going to retry this case,” Brimmer said Tuesday according to a Bloomberg report.

“If the government thinks that the 10 defendants and their attorneys and my staff and another group of jurors should spend six weeks retrying this case after the government has failed in two attempts to convict even one defendant, then certainly Mr. Kanter has the time to come to Denver and explain to me why the Department of Justice thinks that that is an appropriate thing to do,” Brimmer said.

The DOJ had alleged an eight-year conspiracy to fix prices, but the two mistrials suggest the difficulty in government efforts to police competition in food markets. The men had faced up to 10 years in prison and $1 million fines if convicted.

Jurors in both trials heard from Robert Bryant, a longtime Pilgrim’s Pride employee who’s currently on leave. As the government’s star witness, Bryant testified an industry-wide agreement existed to share price and bid information to inflate profits or limit losses, depending on the market.

Undermining Bryant’s testimony was the fact he appeared under grant of immunity from prosecution as he admitted that he had lied to the FBI “multiple times” on matters unrelated to the price-fixing probe.

Another prosecution witness was Tyson sales manager Carl Pepper, who told jurors about coordinating prices among the competitors.

Lawyers for the defendants argued that both men had lied to avoid prison. The defense argued that it’s not illegal simply to share pricing information and that the government can’t prove that the defendants all agreed to participate in a single, overarching conspiracy.

Related stories:

Judge Declares Mistrial In Chicken Antitrust Case

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Found in Commercial Chickens in Missouri

Fri, 04 Mar 2022 21:54:18 GMT

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a flock of commercial broiler chickens in Stoddard County, Mo.

Samples from the flock were tested at the University of Missouri Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, part of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, and confirmed at the APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa, USDA said in a release.

APHIS is working closely with state animal health officials in Missouri on a joint incident response. The affected premises has been quarantined, and birds on the properties will be depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease. Birds from the flock will not enter the food system, the release said.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the recent HPAI detections do not present an immediate public health concern and no human cases of these viruses have been detected in the U.S.

As part of existing avian influenza response plans, federal and state partners are working jointly on additional surveillance and testing in areas around the affected flock. APHIS will continue to announce the first case of HPAI in commercial and backyard flocks detected in a state but will not announce subsequent detections in the state.

The U.S. has the strongest AI surveillance program in the world, and USDA is working with its partners to actively look for the disease in commercial poultry operations, live bird markets and in migratory wild bird populations, the agency noted.

Anyone involved with poultry production from the small backyard to the large commercial producer should review their biosecurity activities to assure the health of their birds. APHIS offers information here .

USDA will report these findings to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) as well as international trading partners. The agency also continues to communicate with trading partners to encourage adherence to OIE standards and minimize trade impacts. OIE trade guidelines call on countries to base trade restrictions on sound science and, whenever possible, limit restrictions to those animals and animal products within a defined region that pose a risk of spreading disease of concern, the release said.

All cases in commercial and backyard flocks will be listed on the APHIS website .

Read More:

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