UPDATE: Lessons Learned From Egg Recall

The recent egg recall has sickened as many as 1,470 people in the United States. Wright, based in Galt, Iowa, has recalled 380 million eggs since Aug. 13. Another 170 million eggs were pulled from the market Aug. 19 by Hillandale Farms, based in New Hampton, Iowa, bringing the total to 550 million. The FDA stressed that there “is no reason” to believe that the conditions at the two farms are indicative of industry wide practices. The two farms are owned by the same individual.

Federal inspections from the FDA of the two Iowa egg farms discovered widespread safety concerns, including barns infested with flies, maggot and rodents.

One report describes Wright County Egg farm as filthy, rat and fly-infested and so overflowing with manure that in several cases doors could not be closed. The other, Hillandale Farms, had multiple unsealed rodent holes into its henhouses, liquid manure leaking from a manure pit and as many as 50 escaped hens tracking manure into the henhouse.

On a conference call Monday, FDA officials stated they had also discovered salmonella in water used to wash eggs at a Hillandale farm. They said it is not clear whether the eggs were washed in contaminated water or if the water was tainted by the eggs.

The FDA has not traditionally visited egg farms until there has been a problem. However the FDA will now inspect all of the nation’s biggest farms by the end of next year, the Obama administration announced last week.