LEWISTON, Utah — Although state officials won’t disclose the name of a Cache Valley commercial facility where avian influenza has been detected, chickens could be seen being disposed of Monday by men in hazmat suits outside the Oakdale Egg Farm near Lewiston.

A Utah Department of Agriculture and Food vehicle was at the sprawling food operation, and a truck being used in the disposal featured a door logo for Patriot Environmental Services, which specializes in cleanup at disasters of various types.

Notations on Google Maps indicate that both Oakdale and its nearby sister plant, Ritewood Inc., are temporarily closed. The same type of electronic map notation has been placed on Zootah in Logan, where the UDAF confirmed a flu case on Friday.

A representative for Oakdale Farms declined to address the matter when contacted by The Herald Journal, referring all calls back to the state agriculture agency. But a truck driver who takes deliveries from Oakdale told the newspaper that shipments from there have stopped and all the trucks servicing the facility are being sanitized at a separate site.

No deliveries appeared underway Monday, and in addition to the hazmat crew, a mobile food service had set up a quonset hut in the parking lot, apparently to feed cleanup workers.

An unattributed news media report over the weekend said more than a million birds are being exterminated at the Lewiston egg plant, but the state declined to comment.

“I’m not sure how that information is getting out, but I am not able to confirm that,” UDAF public information officer Bailee Woolstenhulm said. “We are not able to release the name of the farm or confirm the location of the farm. What I can do is explain the process and why chickens have to be depopulated if they do catch the avian flu, if it is present on a farm.”

She did indicate the outbreak in Cache Valley involves a commercial facility and said previously reported cases of the flu in Utah County were limited to a backyard flock.

Some commercial egg operations in Utah do have a million chickens or more, she said.

The reason the Zootah outbreak was disclosed while the specific location of others have been kept secret is because the zoo is a public facility, Woolstenhulm said. As of late last week, only one bird at Zootah was known to have the virus, and the other fowl at the zoo were being quarantined.

“The affected birds are considered captive wildlife and not poultry, some of which are endangered species. UDAF officials are working with the zoo owners on a specialized response plan to avoid depopulation of these birds,” a state press release said.

Woolstenhulm said disposal of infected fowl is a process closely regulated by the Utah Department of Agriculture. It can involve either landfill burial or burning at the discretion of the affected facility.

The virus is spread to chickens through migrating wild birds. According to the Centers for Disease Control, avian flu viruses rarely infect people, but there have been some cases of human infection ranging from mild to severe and even fatal.

During disposal, the risk of spread remains.

“Yes, there is still somewhat of a risk,” Woolstenhulm said, “and that is why when they’ve been depopulated the barns go through extreme sanitation measures and that is why there are approved disposals methods, so there would be limited exposure that people have to them.”

She would not say specifically how chickens are killed in situations like the one in Cache County, only that it involves slow oxygen deprivation.

“We typically don’t like to talk about it because it’s not very pleasant no matter how we kill them,” she said.

Meanwhile, egg stocks have been affected at Cache Valley grocery stores, many of which are limiting egg purchases.