Tyson Foods' Stock Plunges

Tyson Foods's shares plunged on Monday after bird flu was found at a Tennessee farm that supplies chickens to the U.S. food giant. Phil Bak, CEO of ACSI Funds: (SOUNDBITE) PHIL BAK, CEO, ACSI FUNDS (ENGLISH), SAYING: "Yeah, Tyson has done a very good job of getting out in form of the messaging and controlling the message. If the bird flu is contained from this point going forward, we don't think there will be a significant impact. This is not like Chipotle, where there was a steady stream of news over the course of a month, and, quite frankly, the package food industry is a lot less competitive than the restaurant industry. So, we don't think this is going to be as impactful as it was for Chipotle, however the news must contained going forward." That outbreak is the first confirmed case of the highly pathogenic H7 avian influenza in commercial poultry in the United States this year. Tyson - the biggest chicken meat producer in the United States - said in a statement it's working with Tennessee and federal officials to contain the virus. It's euthanizing 73,500 birds at the farm and placing it under quarantine, along with approximately 30 others in the vicinity. During a widespread outbreak of influenza in 2014 and 2015, U.S. chicken producers killed nearly 50 million birds, mostly egg-laying hens. The losses pushed egg prices to record highs, and prompted trading partners to ban imports of American poultry, even though there was little infection then in the broiler industry.

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