The recall of more than a half-billion Iowa eggs tied to an outbreak of salmonella poisoning is revealing cracks in the shell of nation’s food safety laws.
Political pressure began building Monday on regulators and the operators of the two egg-laying operations believed responsible for the outbreak, with congressional overseers seeking information about conditions at the egg farms and about the rigor of federal oversight of them.
Food and Drug Administration chief Margaret Hamburg said Monday that the agency hasn’t had enough authority to help prevent outbreaks. She urged Congress to pass legislation, stalled in the Senate, that would increase the frequency of inspections and give the agency authority to order a recall.
A University of Nebraska-Lincoln poultry specialist cautioned consumers and others against knee-jerk reactions to eggs or to America’s food-production system because of the recall.
“I’m not in a panic,’’ said Sheila Scheideler, an animal science professor. “I’m not going to stop eating eggs.’’
The number of illnesses — which can be life-threatening, especially to those with weakened immune systems — is expected to increase. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said there could be as many as 1,300 salmonella illnesses linked to the eggs. The CDC said that for every case reported, there could be 30 or more unreported cases.
Twenty FDA investigators are at two farms — Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, and Hillandale Farms in New Hampton, Iowa — and could be there until next week. Preliminary findings of the investigation could be available later this week.
Both companies say they are cooperating with the investigation. The two initiated voluntary recalls.
The FDA has said that new egg safety rules that went into effect in July would prevent tens of thousands of salmonella illnesses a year.
The FDA said over the weekend that if Wright County Egg had been following the new egg rules, the outbreak would not have happened.
But Hinda Mitchell, a spokeswoman for Wright County Egg, said the company had put the required federal measures in place by the July deadline. And before that date, she said, the company had participated in a voluntary industry program that included steps similar to some of the new federal requirements.
Highlights of the new rules include requiring producers to buy chicks and young hens only from suppliers who monitor for salmonella bacteria; establishing rodent and pest measures to prevent the spread of bacteria; testing for salmonella; and refrigerating eggs at 45 degrees during storage and transportation no later than 36 hours after the eggs are laid.
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.”
Food safety advocates for more than a decade have pushed for improvements and new rules that require companies to make eggs and many other foods safer. The FDA’s authority on the farm is questionable because the agency is often limited to gathering information about a contamination outbreak after people have been sickened. Investigations into what went wrong come well after the crucial evidence is gone.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., head of the spending committee that oversees the Agriculture Department and the FDA, on Monday advocated a single food safety agency instead of the current system in which at least 15 agencies have a hand in ensuring that the nation’s food is safe.
The lack of oversight has become a bigger problem as the egg industry, like many other food industries, has consolidated over recent years, placing fewer, larger businesses in control of much of the nation’s egg supply.
DeLauro sent letters to Hamburg and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack seeking information about how aggressively their agencies had monitored Wright County Egg and other entities controlled by Austin “Jack” DeCoster, who has a long history of problems with environmental and labor laws.
Also, Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Bart Stupak of Michigan, both members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, sent letters Monday to the two farms requesting information and records pertaining to the recall.
Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms share suppliers of chickens and feed.
FDA officials said last week they had “no inspectional history” with Wright County Egg.
The company recalled 380 million eggs Aug. 13 after it was linked to the almost 1,300 cases of salmonella poisoning. A week later, Hillandale Farms recalled 170 million eggs.
Salmonella infections can be caused by rodents, flies, birds or other pests that can run through the chickens’ feed trough or get inside a farm’s feed silo.
Wright County Egg spokeswoman Mitchell said the company’s management has addressed food safety questions “swiftly and effectively” when they have been raised in the past.
Mitchell also said that the company, in such circumstances, has worked with “recognized outside experts” to identify and correct operational problems. She said the company is approaching its work with the FDA “in the same forthright manner.”
Kevin Vinchattle, executive director of the Iowa Egg Council in Urbandale, said he, too, wants to know what happened.
“There’s an ongoing investigation. It will produce facts about what happened and what didn’t happen,’’ he said. “We’ll then know if there’s anything to learn to make sure this doesn’t happen again in the future. Recalls are not something we want to see happen.’’
Scheideler, the UNL poultry specialist, said industrialization of the egg industry has improved the safety of eggs. For example, she said, eggs produced in modern henhouses roll onto trays that are free of manure and other debris. Some studies show those eggs to be cleaner than eggs from free-range chickens, she said.
“Vaccinations, quick and correct refrigeration, limited cross-contamination during cleaning — all these management measures help reduce the contamination risk considerably,’’ Scheideler said, adding that the federal investigation could narrow the problem to management troubles — such as a refrigeration problem or a bad vaccination lot — in a couple of flocks.
“Zero incidents is going to be very frustrating and difficult to attain,’’ she said. “Reducing the risk is very attainable with good management.’’
This report includes material from the Associated Press, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.
Contact the writer:
444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com
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