Egg Recall: Should People be Scared to Eat Eggs?

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors have found that two Iowa egg farms, owned by billionaire Austin “Jack” DeCoster, are in violation of a number of claims that included the presence of manure pits, rodents and dead flies at two Iowa farms implicated in the recent egg recall due to salmonella infection, responsible for as many as 1,500 cases of salmonella poisoning.

The egg recall, which started on Aug. 13th, involves more than half a billion eggs from the two farms, Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. About 1,500 reported cases of Salmonella enteritidis have been linked to tainted eggs since the spring — the largest known outbreak associated with that strain of salmonella.

In a statement, Hillandale said it is committed to addressing all issues raised by the FDA in order to be in “full compliance as soon as possible,” so that it can again ship shell eggs.

FDA repports state they found rodent holes or burrows in barns and manure piled so high that it forced doors open, allowing wildlife to go in and out of the henhouses.

Normally approximately 70 percent of all eggs produced in the country are sold in shell, and around 30 percent go to breaking facilities. Eggs from the breaking plants are used in a wide range of products. Commercial bakeries for example are large order customers for pasteurized egg products. There are 57 egg breaking plants spread over 23 states according to the USDA. With the major recall still in effect for in shell egg from these two farms, the millions of eggs laid each day will be going to breaking facilities.

Salmonella enteritidis is a bacterium that lives in animal intestines, that is found in feces and can be spread by mice, birds, flies and other organisms. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that at least 1,400 people have been sickened since May by eating eggs contaminated by the bacteria. It is the largest outbreak of the disease since federal officials began tracking it in the 1970s.