‘Egg factories’ produce high profits, cheap but dangerous eggs and dangerous places for workers.
The problem, like so many other food safety issues, can be traced back to the industrialization of food production, agribusiness, and lack of government regulation.
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1. One company paid a fine to settle state animal cruelty charges against their egg operations.
2. A huge family agribusiness operation, pleaded guilty to federal immigration charges.
3. At an Iowa egg producer three supervisors attacked employees and threatened to have them fired or killed if they did not submit to rape (charges pending). [Source: New York Times]
Article Written By: Truman Lewis Posted by: Elizabeth Fiend Source: ConsumerAffairs.Com
First it was knocked from its perch by consumers’ rising to cholesterol and now, incredibly, the edible egg is the latest everyday consumable to be scrambled, poached and whipped by Salmonella contamination.
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The recall of hundreds of millions eggs follows a four-fold increase in Salmonella Enteritidis infections since May 2010 and health officials fear the worst may be yet to come.
On August 13, 2010, Wright County Egg, an Iowa egg producer, launched a nationwide egg recall and expanded it on August 19, the recall was expanded. Yesterday, Hillandale Farms of Iowa recalled eggs sold under various brand names including Hillandale Farms, Sunny Farms, and Sunny Meadow.
This is a crisis that’s not likely to be over easily. Salmonella is about as unpleasant an infection as you can think of, even for healthy people, but it can be deadly for infants, the elderly, the chronically ill and anyone with a compromised immune system.
Although it’s hard to think of anything more common in the food supply than the lowly chicken egg, consumption of the shelled ovoids has been declining steadily in recent years.
Americans used to eat one egg per day per person 1960s but the number is now down to about 257 per person per year, according to the Lempert Report, a food industry newsletter. But that figure doesn’t count all the prepared food products that contain eggs and that may or may not have been handled with all due caution.
The problem, like so many other food safety issues, can be traced back to the industrialization of food production. When chickens wandered around barnyards, pecking away at bugs and corn and whatever else they could find, Salmonella was rarely a problem. But now that chickens live their lives in tight quarters, Salmonella has become a frequent intruder in the henhouse.
To be fair, it should be noted that the pesticide-soaked earth is no longer the safest spot to raise barnyard fowl, as a recent study found.
What’s a homemaker to do?
Well, you could fence in the backyard and install some laying hens, but that can cause problems with neighbors and, in many places, homeowners associations and local bureaucrats. Also, there’s the no-so-slight problem of dogs, coyotes and others who aren’t shy about helping themselves to a quick snack. Some cats also enjoy tormenting and even killing smaller chickens. Nature is natural, if not always kind.
But assuming you’re using store-bought eggs (as they used to be called), the most important safety step is to be sure they’re cooked thorough, according to the U.S. Salmonella Fears Scramble Egg Industry’s Hopes, Homemakers’ Grocery ListsAgriculture Department.
• Scrambled eggs: Cook until firm, not runny.
• Fried, poached, boiled, or baked: Cook until both the white and the yolk are firm.
• Egg mixtures, such as casseroles: Cook until the center of the mixture reaches 160 °F when measured with a food thermometer.
Better yet, you can use liquid eggs or frozen egg substitutes. These products are pasteurized and are therefore safer to handle and can be used in recipes that will not be cooked.
Here are some USDA points if you’re using fresh shell eggs in recipies:
• Homemade ice cream and eggnog are safe if you do one of the following:
* Use a cooked egg-milk mixture. Heat it gently and use a food thermometer to ensure that it reaches 160 °F.
* Use pasteurized eggs or egg products.
• Dry meringue shells, divinity candy, and 7-minute frosting are safe — these are made by combining hot sugar syrup with beaten egg whites. However, avoid icing recipes using uncooked eggs or egg whites.
• Meringue-topped pies should be safe if baked at 350 °F for about 15 minutes. But avoid chiffon pies and fruit whips made with raw, beaten egg whites — instead, substitute pasteurized dried egg whites, whipped cream, or a whipped topping.
• Adapting Recipes: If your recipe calls for uncooked eggs, make it safe by doing one of the following:
* Heating the eggs in one of the recipe’s other liquid ingredients over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 160 °F. Then, combine it with the other ingredients and complete the recipe. Or use pasteurized eggs or egg products.
* Using pasteurized eggs or egg products.
Hillandale Farms Recall
Eggs affected by the Hillandale recall were distributed to grocery distribution centers, retail grocery stores and foodservice companies which service or are located in fourteen states, including the following: Arkansas, California, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Eggs are distributed under the following brand names: Hillandale Farms, Sunny Farms, and Sunny Meadow in 6-egg cartons, dozen-egg cartons, 18-egg cartons, 30-egg package, and 5-dozen cases. Loose eggs are packaged under the following brand names: Wholesome Farms and West Creek in 15 and 30-dozen tray packs. The loose eggs may also be repackaged by customers.
The Iowa egg producer behind the massive recall of 380 million eggs for possible Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) contamination has had its share of run-ins with state and federal regulators, mostly over labor, environmental and immigration policies.
The founder of Wright County Egg, a huge family agribusiness operation, pleaded guilty to federal immigration charges in 2003 and paid a record $2.1 million in penalties. The year before, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission levied a nearly $1.5 million fine for sexual harassment and other abuse of female employees.
In early 2010 the owners paid a fine to settle state animal cruelty charges against their egg operations in Maine. Wright County Egg also is being sued for allegedly causing the salmonella poisoning of a Wisconsin woman, and a dozen more lawsuits linked to the outbreak are in the works, according to Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer who specializes in food poisonings.
On his website, Marler suggests actual cases of Salmonella linked to bad eggs at nearly 50,000. He cites a statement late Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control that traceable cases may number over 1,200. Using the CDC’s multiple of 38.5 unreported cases for every reported case, he comes up with 48,240 possible cases of the illness.
Food and Drug Administration inspectors have reportedly been at company farms since last week inspecting henhouses and testing eggs to determine the source of the contamination. The inspection was triggered by Wright County Egg’s August 13 voluntary recall of shell eggs that it had shipped since May 19, 2010 to food wholesalers, distribution centers and foodservice companies in California, Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. These companies distribute nationwide.
Spike in illnesses
Since May 2010, CDC has identified a nationwide, four-fold increase in the number of SE isolates through PulseNet, the national subtyping network made up of state and local public health laboratories and federal food regulatory laboratories. CDC received reports of approximately 200 SE cases every week during late June and early July.
Normally, CDC has received an average of some 50 reports of SE illness each week for the past five years. Many states have also reported increases of this pattern since May 2010, CDC said.
Epidemiologic investigations conducted by public health officials in California, Colorado, and Minnesota have revealed several restaurants or events where more than one person ill with this type of SE has eaten. Preliminary information from these investigations suggests that shell eggs are the likely source of infections in many of these restaurants or events.
Traceback
FDA, CDC, and state partners conducted a traceback investigation and found many of these restaurants or events received shell eggs from a single firm, Wright County Egg, in Galt, Iowa. FDA said it is currently conducting an extensive investigation at the firm in Iowa. The investigation involves sampling, records review and looking for potential sources of contamination, such as feed.
The recalled shell eggs are packaged under the following brand names: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps.
State and local partners are also investigating human Salmonella infections in Arizona, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas.
For a list of recalled eggs click here:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/08/egg_update3.html#ixzz0xXHHAjkQ
