Although it is standard procedure to kill flocks with the outbreak of bird flu, posts on social media twisted the truth.
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USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong ordered the mass extermination of healthy poultry in 2024, citing “mutating bird flu,” in order to artificially inflate poultry and egg prices in the U.S.
Following the forcible removal of Phyllis Fong—the former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture — from her office after she ignored President Donald Trump’s termination order in late January 2025, posts shared online (archived) began to claim that she was “one of the key players behind the artificial inflation of poultry and egg prices in the U.S.”
One such Facebook post, which users shared more than 53,000 times as of this writing, claimed Fong ordered the mass extermination of healthy poultry in 2024, citing “mutating bird flu,” in order to drive up the cost of poultry and eggs.
The claim — an example of copypasta, or text written to be copied and shared online — also made its way to X (archived). The full text of the post was as follows:
Arrested, USDA Inspector Phyllis Fong, a 22-year Deep State operative, is one of the key players behind the artificial inflation of poultry and egg prices in the U.S. She ordered the culling of MILLIONS of healthy birds, using the FAKE excuse of “mutating bird flu.” But here’s the TRUTH: There was NO pandemic.
Fong personally ordered mass bird exterminations in 2024, targeting farms in Colorado, Ohio, Arizona, Louisiana, and Nebraska. One case in Louisiana set the stage: a man (who DID NOT WORK on a poultry farm) was allegedly diagnosed with H5N1 after “finding dead birds” in his yard. The CDC then INVENTED a panic story, claiming 66 people were infected. Sources say that number is ENTIRELY FABRICATED.
Before the media even blasted this FAKE OUTBREAK, Fong and Biden’s corrupt FDA sent teams of inspectors in full hazmat suits to Nebraska, ordering the instant killing of 600,000 birds. The farm owner — who recently tested his flock and found ZERO SIGNS of bird flu — REFUSED. But it didn’t matter. Fong had already signed off on the order, threatening him with $4 BILLION in fines and PRISON TIME if he didn’t comply.
She thought she was untouchable. When Trump began cleansing the Deep State in January, she REFUSED TO LEAVE, publicly claiming Trump had “no authority” over “federal watchdogs.”
The next day, KARMA STRUCK. Security FORCED HER OUT, delivering her straight to JAG investigators.
We reached out to the USDA for comment and will update this story if we receive a response. However, there is no evidence Fong “personally ordered” mass bird exterminations in order to drive up the cost of poultry and eggs. The post did not provide any sources or evidence for its claims, and it appears to have taken nuggets of truth and twisted them with conspiratorial language to push an agenda.Â
For example, it is true that a man in Louisiana contracted highly pathogenic avian influenza, or H5N1, and died from the disease in January 2025. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explained that the man caught the disease from a combination of a noncommercial backyard flock and wild birds. The Louisiana Department of Health stressed that the patient was 65, with possible underlying medical conditions.
It is also true that, in 2022, the Nebraska Agriculture Department ordered 570,000 chickens killed after bird flu appeared in the flock — the post similarly claimed that Fong ordered the killing of 600,000 birds in Nebraska. There is no evidence Fong threatened the farmer with $4 billion in fines and prison time if he didn’t comply, as the post claims.
According to a professor of epidemiology interviewed by CBS News in February 2025, more than 148 million birds have been ordered to be killed since H5N1 reached the U.S. in 2022. As of this writing, the CDC website reported that 156,254,271 birds were “affected.”
In sum, there is no evidence Fong ordered the mass killing of birds in order to drive up the cost of poultry and eggs. Since avian flu arrived in the U.S. in 2022, farmers have killed millions of birds affected by the disease. This is standard procedure and does not reflect the “personal” decision of Fong.
Sources
‘Bird Flu Found in Nebraska so 570,000 Chickens to Be Killed’. AP News, 22 Mar. 2022, https://apnews.com/article/business-health-nebraska-agriculture-flu-cd231a0d25346a7eb01d84ade5d2daf6.
CDC. ‘CDC Confirms First Severe Case of H5N1 Bird Flu in the United States’. CDC Newsroom, 18 Dec. 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/m1218-h5n1-flu.html.
CDC. ‘First H5 Bird Flu Death Reported in United States’. CDC Newsroom, 6 Jan. 2025, https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2025/m0106-h5-birdflu-death.html.
CDC. ‘USDA Reported H5N1 Bird Flu Detections in Poultry’. Avian Influenza (Bird Flu), 6 Feb. 2025, https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/data-map-commercial.html.
Confirmations of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Commercial and Backyard Flocks | Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/commercial-backyard-flocks. Accessed 6 Feb. 2025.
LDH Reports First U.S. H5N1-Related Human Death. 6 Jan. 2025, https://ldh.la.gov/news/H5N1-death#:~:text=The%20Louisiana%20Department%20of%20Health,to%20have%20underlying%20medical%20conditions
Levy, Rachael. ‘Exclusive: USDA Inspector General Escorted out of Her Office after Defying White House’. Reuters, 30 Jan. 2025. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/usda-inspector-general-escorted-out-her-office-after-defying-white-house-2025-01-29/.
Teichner, Martha. As Bird Flu Ravages Poultry Industry, the Damage Spreads – CBS News. 2 Feb. 2025, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/as-bird-flu-ravages-poultry-industry-the-damage-spreads/.
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