The virus was confirmed as the reason for a high rate of mortality in a flock of turkeys that arrived at the plant for slaughter.
The Canadian Food Inspection routinely issues e-mails to those who ask to be its news list about outbreaks of highly-pathogenic avian influenza, but did not identify Sofina as the place on that website.
The unusual death rate was spotted at the plant Dec. 12, CFIA testing confirmed the cause as highly-pathogenic avian influenza the next day.
The plant was shut down and underwent a thorough cleaning and disinfection and was due to re-open today.
The disease is no threat to people, but as a precaution the plant stopped slaughter and detained any turkey products that might have been contaminated or cross-contaminated.
