In May 2010, CDC identified a nationwide increase in the number of Salmonella Enteritidis isolates with PFGE pattern JEGX01.0004 uploaded to PulseNet, the national subtyping network made up of state and local public health laboratories and federal food regulatory laboratories that performs molecular surveillance of foodborne infections. This increase is evident in the epidemic curve
The Ag Industry Fries One of Its Own
Friends and enemies say that I have a less than eclectic reading style – I will read most anything that has my name in it. So, although I may well have been attracted by my name in lights (or at least in the article), I stayed for the smack down delivered on one Mr. Austin “Jack” DeCoster (a.k.a., the bad egg) delivered by crack Ag reporters Chuck Jolley and Dan Murphy. Chuck Jolley is a free-lance writer, based in Kansas City, who covers a wide range of Ag industry topics for Cattlenetwork.com and Agnetwork.com. Dan Murphy is a veteran food-industry journalist and commentator. Both took Jack to task for both his less than stellar past and an outbreak and recall that will cripple the Egg Industry for some time.
Here are their stories – and, thanks Chuck and Dan for the off-hand compliments:Continue Reading The Ag Industry Fries One of Its Own
More than 1,300 Ill and 550,000,000 Salmonella Recalled Eggs is an “Eggbarrassment”
Yesterday I was speaking with David Hendee of the Omaha World-Herald (along with Larry King, FOX, LA Times, CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, KABC, etc.) about the “Eggbarrassment” to the egg industry and to the government for the latest of what seems like a constant stream of foodborne illnesses and food recalls. As I said to David:
The awareness that a half-billion suspect eggs have been circulating in the food supply is an embarrassment not only for the egg industry but for federal regulators, said Bill Marler, a Seattle attorney who has filed suit alleging illness from tainted eggs at a Wisconsin restaurant. He said he has been retained by two dozen families and was representing a woman hospitalized in California.
“The question is ‘Who was inspecting the plants, if anybody?’” Marler said Monday to The World-Herald. “An outbreak with 550 million bad eggs and 1,300 sickened people has been going on for a while. I suspect nobody was inspecting.’’
Marler said the episode raises many questions about food safety roles played by the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. The FDA inspects shell eggs and the USDA inspects processed eggs.
Marler questioned if that “joint jurisdiction’’ is the best way of assuring the public that eggs will be safer. “If the farms followed the rule, where was the error made? Or is there something wrong with the rule? Tell me what they weren’t doing.”
Yesterday, I suggested that Congress hold hearings on why this outbreak, that began in May, seemed to go unnoticed until mid-August. It seems that at least Congressmembers, Waxman, DeLauro and Stupak are on task asking for documents from Wright County Egg and demanding an explanation of who was inspecting the plant – USDA/FSIS or FDA – or neither? And, they want to know how this outbreak happened? I know I am just a lawyer, but here generally are the issues I would focus on:Continue Reading More than 1,300 Ill and 550,000,000 Salmonella Recalled Eggs is an “Eggbarrassment”
An eggspecially busy day!
In between being interviewed by FOX New York, Seattle and Los Angeles and being taped for the Today story for tomorrow, and doing several other radio and TV interviews – one by Skype and preparing for the Larry King Show in an hour, I had the chance to finish up my slides for a speech
CNBC “Quote of the Day” Food Safety between Odierno and Ahmadinejad
I am not sure this is something that CNBC does often, and I am not sure how I feel about it.
“A strong democratic Iraq will bring stability to the Middle East, and if we see Iraq that’s moving toward that, two, three, five years from now, I think we can call our operations a
Salmonella Egg Fiasco – House and Senate Agriculture and FDA Oversight Committees should hold joint hearings
As I said to the Associate Press yesterday – “The history of ignoring the law makes the sickening of 1,300 and the forced recall of 550 million eggs shockingly understandable.” I was talking about the owner of the largest egg farm at the center of this massive recall and outbreak of Salmonella Enteriditis. As the AP found the owner, Austin “Jack” DeCoster, is no stranger to controversy in his food and farm operations:Continue Reading Salmonella Egg Fiasco – House and Senate Agriculture and FDA Oversight Committees should hold joint hearings
Chickens and Chicken Feed link Quality Egg to Wright County Egg and Hillandale Salmonella Outbreak
MARY CLARE JALONICK, of AP, (A.K.A., “the egg gal,”) confirmed this morning what everyone speculated, that “both farms (Hillandale and Wright County Egg) are linked to businessman Austin “Jack” DeCoster, who has been cited for numerous health, safety and employment violations over the years.” She goes further:
DeCoster owns Wright County Egg, the original farm that recalled 380 million eggs Aug. 13 after they were linked to more than 1,000 reported cases of salmonella poisoning. Another of his companies, Quality Egg supplies young chickens and feed to both Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, the second farm that recalled another 170 million eggs a week later.
Her other story, “Farms recalling eggs share suppliers, other ties,” just hit the wire. Here is an interesting perspective (if I do not say so myself):
The salmonella outbreak has raised questions about federal inspections of egg farms. The FDA oversees inspections of shell eggs, while the Agriculture Department is in charge of inspecting other egg products.
William D. Marler, a Seattle attorney for a person who filed suit alleging illness from tainted eggs in a salad at a restaurant in Kenosha, Wis., said Sunday his firm has been retained by two-dozen families and was representing a woman who was hospitalized in California.
“The history of ignoring the law makes the sickening of 1,300 and the forced recall of 550 million eggs shockingly understandable,” Marler said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “You have to wonder where the USDA and FDA inspectors were.”
As Ms. Jalonick documents, DeCoster is no stranger to controversy in his food and farm operations:Continue Reading Chickens and Chicken Feed link Quality Egg to Wright County Egg and Hillandale Salmonella Outbreak
Wright County Egg owner, DeCoster, seems to be one bad Egg
I spoke with Alec MacGillis this morning about the 550,000,000 eggs being recalled and the 1,300 people sickened and the company, Wright County Egg, in the middle of it. His story, “Before salmonella outbreak, egg firm had long record of violations,” and the violations he cites is even shocking to me, and I have been at this for 17 years. I must tell you, I am looking forward to putting him under oath. Here are a few examples:
- In June, for instance, the family agreed to pay a $34,675 fine stemming from allegations of animal cruelty against hens in its 5 million-bird Maine operation. An animal rights group used a hidden camera to document hens suffocating in garbage cans, twirled by their necks, kicked into manure pits to drown and hanging by their feet over conveyer belts.
Continue Reading Wright County Egg owner, DeCoster, seems to be one bad Egg
Minnesota reports 14 Ill – Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms Recall 550,000,000 Salmonella-Tainted Eggs
Illnesses in at least seven additional people in Minnesota have been connected with an expanded multi-state recall of eggs from an Iowa producer due to contamination with Salmonella. This brings the total number of cases in Minnesota linked to the recall to 14. The additional Salmonella Enteriditis cases were identified as part of a restaurant outbreak in Bemidji, Minnesota in May. Shell eggs were identified as the likely source of this outbreak and were traced back by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and FDA to Hillandale Farms of New Hampton, Iowa. Eggs from Hillandale Farms have now been included in an expanded egg recall that also includes Wright County Egg.
Salmonella can be much more than a “tummy ache”
In the middle of a nationwide Salmonella outbreak, last week Elizabeth Landau of CNN asked if she could talk with one of my clients who had been stricken by Salmonella and had suffered complication – more than just a “tummy ache.” Fortunately for Elizabeth, but unfortunately for my clients, it is not hard to find more than a few. Her story, “When salmonella becomes deadly,” profiled “Barbara Pruitt, who nearly lost her life when her case of salmonella got out of control last year. Pruitt, 42, of Lakeview, Oregon, has never fully recovered from the damage the infection did to her system.”
She suffered far more than a “tummy ache.”Continue Reading Salmonella can be much more than a “tummy ache”