Update: Estes Hatchery Co-owner Says "Our Chickens Are Healthy"

(Springfield, MO) -- The co-owner of a Springfield chicken hatchery linked to a Salmonella outbreak says his chickens are healthy.

Shawn Richardson says Estes Hatchery (805 North Meteor Avenue) meets all Missouri legal requirements to sell poultry.

This just hours after the CDC linked the mail-order hatchery to a strain of Salmonella Monetevideo that affected 66 people in 20 states. It says those who have fallen ill had contact with chicks, ducklings, and other live baby poultry.

Read the report here

Estes Hatchery is on the city's west side and has been in business since 1921, selling more than one million live birds a year and hatching more than 100,000 a week.

"We are very concerned about the health of the public," Richardson told KOLR/KOZL. "We are working with state and federal officials.  We meet all Missouri legal requirements to sell poultry. Our birds are healthy. Even healthy animals may carry germs that make people sick. You want to wash your hands thoroughly after handling baby poultry."

On Wednesday, the Health Department was back at the hatchery. Richardson says his business has never failed an inspection; the most recent was in September.

Richardson says Estes also uses birds from hatcheries Ohio, Arizona and Texas to fill orders. He says the Salmonella could be linked to any of those.

"Now I'm not going to name any other hatchery's because that's not good form, but I just want to let other people know that it's kind of hard to trace. We have to go into what had it, what hatchery it came from, whether it came from us, whether it came from another hatchery as well."

Richardson says it's business as usual at the hatchery. He's still selling chicks, saying no one has told him to stop.

See Also:
CDC Links Salmonella Outbreak to Estes Hatchery in Springfield MO
CDC Has Tips for Avoiding Salmonella Infections from Live Poultry