--- title: Is It Safe to Eat Eggs and Chicken During the Bird Flu Outbreak? description: Experts say you're unlikely to contract the virus from eating eggs or chicken, but taking precautions is a good idea. canonical: https://time.com/6963860/bird-flu-eggs-chicken-food-safety/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-04-05T17:05:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:41:17.187Z article:section: Health og:title: Is It Safe to Eat Eggs and Chicken During the Bird Flu Outbreak? og:description: Experts say the risk is low, but taking these precautions is a good idea. og:url: https://time.com/6963860/bird-flu-eggs-chicken-food-safety/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05eb40cb573dc14a/698a5562929fade515bfc5c2/GettyImages-1466941337.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: GettyImages-1466941337.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Is It Safe to Eat Eggs and Chicken During the Bird Flu Outbreak? twitter:description: Experts say the risk is low, but taking these precautions is a good idea. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05eb40cb573dc14a/698a5562929fade515bfc5c2/GettyImages-1466941337.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Is It Safe to Eat Eggs and Chicken During the Bird Flu Outbreak? > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=ef5c8ddd-db11-447a-b497-488e71971e67&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Bird Flu Was Found in Chickens at the Largest U.S. Egg Producer [Watch (HLS stream): Bird Flu Was Found in Chickens at the Largest U.S. Egg Producer](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PbLybli2.m3u8) (2:05)  _Published 2024-04-04. The largest producer of fresh eggs in the U.S. said Tuesday it had temporarily halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens, and officials said the virus had also been detected at a poultry facility in Michigan._  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Apr 5, 2024 5:05 PM UTC The largest producer of fresh eggs in the U.S. said Tuesday it had temporarily halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens, and officials said the virus had also been detected at a poultry facility in Michigan.  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Apr 5, 2024 5:05 PM UTC The ongoing outbreak of bird flu has [infected at least one person](https://time.com/6962418/bird-flu-human-case-us/) in the U.S. and has raised questions about how safe poultry and eggs are to eat right now. So far, there have been no reported cases of spread among people, or of a person contracting this strain of avian influenza (also known as H5N1) from contaminated egg or poultry products, according to the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/avian-flu-summary.htm). The CDC says that the current public health risk is “low.” Here's what scientists know right now about bird flu and food safety. ## Eggs The largest producer of eggs in the country, Cal-Maine Foods in Texas, temporarily [stopped production](https://time.com/6963162/the-largest-egg-producer-in-the-u-s-has-found-bird-flu-in-chickens/) at one of its facilities on Apr. 2 after H5N1 was identified there. The company also culled more than 3% of its flock in response to the outbreak. Eggs from infected chickens are unlikely to be on supermarket shelves, the FDA [says](https://www.fda.gov/food/egg-guidance-regulation-and-other-information/questions-and-answers-regarding-safety-eggs-during-highly-pathogenic-avian-influenza-outbreaks). That’s because in the time that it takes to detect an avian flu virus in a flock of egg-laying chickens, 99.99% of eggs would not have reached store shelves yet, since they would still be in the process of being distributed. That prediction comes from a [model](https://www.fsis.usda.gov/news-events/publications/interagency-risk-assessment-public-health-impact-highly-pathogenic-avian) for estimating the risk of human exposure from avian flu outbreaks that was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010\. According to that assessment, even if an infection among chickens was discovered after eggs had hit supermarket shelves, more than 98% of potentially contaminated eggs could be removed from stores after a recall was issued. **Read More**: [_Is Eating a Plant-Based Diet Better For You?_](https://time.com/6551606/is-plant-based-diet-healthier-you-are-what-you-eat/) Another safeguard: pasteurization inactivates viruses in eggs and therefore eliminates most risk to human health. Properly handling eggs—including avoiding cross contamination of any raw products with other foods—and [cooking](https://www.foodsafety.gov/food-safety-charts/safe-minimum-internal-temperatures) them at least until the yolks and whites are firm will further reduce any risk of infection. ## Poultry Like it is with eggs, the risk of buying infected chicken at the grocery store is very low, according to the USDA and FDA. The model predicted a 95% probability that infected poultry would not make it to stores, since the virus would lead to relatively high mortality among the chickens, and farmers would be aware of the infection before the poultry was prepared for sale. However, the scientists determined that there is a 5% chance that infected chickens reaching market size would be slaughtered and sold before the virus was detected. **Read More**: [_Why Your Diet Needs More Fermented Pickles_](https://time.com/6958510/are-pickles-good-for-you/) The best way to prevent that from happening is to increase testing of flocks on farms, the risk assessment concluded. Farmers can also detect illness in their flocks by monitoring how much feed the birds eat, since birds tend to eat less when they're sick. According to the risk assessment, keeping track of feed consumption can lead to a 96% chance that an infected chicken is not processed for market, and can reduce the risk of human disease by 23 fold, while checking for signs of sickness leads to a 95.5% chance that infected chickens are not processed for market and reduces the risk of human illness by 8-fold. As an added safety measure, keep raw chicken away from uncooked foods and cook chicken to 165°F, which likely inactivates any virus that could make people sick. ## Transcript [00:00] Regards to avian flu or or bird flu. [00:03] We are definitely taking this. [00:05] Seriously. This is the first time we are seeing avian flu in cattle [00:11] and cows and we haven't seen that previously obviously [00:15] had been in chicken poultry before and that is where are heavy [00:20] efforts have been in terms of monitoring. [00:22] So the fact that it is in cattle now is a definitely raises [00:28] Our concern level and we have to work to do to better understand [00:32] that the virus is the same strain of the virus that we have [00:38] seen in chickens in the past. [00:41] So it's not a new strain of the virus. [00:43] So this is known to us and we've been studying it and frankly [00:47] we've been preparing for avian flu for 20 years, [00:50] which is a completely novel or new virus avian flu is known [00:56] to us, and we've been thinking about vaccine And treatment [01:00] and test on for quite a number of years but this is a new [01:06] development cows mammals being a reservoir give this virus [01:11] new opportunity to change and that's what we're watching [01:14] for really closely has this virus changed or is it changing [01:20] that would make it more likely to spread from human-to-human. [01:23] The good news is right now in the United States, [01:27] we've never had a documented case of human-to-human [01:30] spread of avian flu, but that's what we're watching for me to [01:35] understand how this virus is changing today. [01:37] It's the same version of the virus, [01:39] but as we've all learned through covid these viruses change [01:45] very quickly. So we are our meeting to watch it closely. [01:48] We have to sequence these we have to stay ahead of it and we're [01:50] monitoring and taking this very closely. [01:52] Our agriculture partners are on the grounds are our Public Health [01:56] Partners are on the ground. [01:57] They're just state and local [02:00] are one team and that is what we've been working on very closely [02:03] at CDC to be that one team. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6963860/bird-flu-eggs-chicken-food-safety/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6963860/bird-flu-eggs-chicken-food-safety/"},"headline":"Is It Safe to Eat Eggs and Chicken During the Bird Flu Outbreak?","datePublished":"2024-04-05T17:05:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T07:41:17.187Z","description":"Experts say the risk is low, but taking these precautions is a good idea.","url":"https://time.com/6963860/bird-flu-eggs-chicken-food-safety/","keywords":["Public Health","healthscienceclimate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05eb40cb573dc14a/698a5562929fade515bfc5c2/GettyImages-1466941337.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05eb40cb573dc14a/698a5562929fade515bfc5c2/GettyImages-1466941337.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GettyImages-1466941337.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6963860/bird-flu-eggs-chicken-food-safety/","name":"Is It Safe to Eat Eggs and Chicken During the Bird Flu Outbreak?"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Bird Flu Was Found in Chickens at the Largest U.S. Egg Producer","description":"The largest producer of fresh eggs in the U.S. said Tuesday it had temporarily halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens, and officials said the virus had also been detected at a poultry facility in Michigan.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PbLybli2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2024-04-04T14:07:19.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PbLybli2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6963860/bird-flu-eggs-chicken-food-safety/","duration":"PT2M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6963860/bird-flu-eggs-chicken-food-safety/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```