The Minnesota Department of Health on Tuesday updated lawmakers on how bird flu is affecting the state.

Last spring, more than a million birds in Minnesota were infected in a series of outbreaks. The flu has also impacted cows, continuing to affect prices at grocery stores.

The latest federal numbers show egg prices rose 38% nationwide last year.

“Eggs are kind of like fuel. They’re in so many different ingredients of the things we eat that when the price of eggs goes up, it does affect lots of other food stuff that we eat,” said Dave Vang, a finance professor at the University of St. Thomas.

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Meanwhile, in Minnesota, more than 1.3 million cases of the bird flu were detected in Meeker County alone last spring, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, making it the largest single producer outbreak in Minnesota over the last two years.

182 poultry flocks, and five domestic cats, have been infected since 2022.

Back in December, Wisconsin health officials also reported a person tested positive for bird flu in Barron County, marking the first human case in the area.

Minnesota Dairy producers said that same month that at least nine cow herds were infected but have since recovered.

The USDA is now requiring dozens of states, including Minnesota, to send in raw milk for testing.

“It gives us the ability to know where viruses and probably just as important where the virus isn’t so we can dedicate our resources into virus elimination across the country,” said Keith Poulson, the director of Wisconsin’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

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