Egg Farms Rack Up Violations

FDA finds unsanitary conditions, keeps key data secret..



FDA finds unsanitary conditions, keeps key data secret..
"One year after 1,900 people were sickened and a half-billion Iowa eggs were recalled, government inspectors continue to find unsanitary conditions and inadequate protections against salmonella on Iowa’s egg farms…

Despite new federal regulations intended to give consumers greater protection against food-borne illnesses, government oversight of egg production remains a clumsy patchwork of state and federal laws. Among the gaps in the system: Inspections at egg farms are announced days in advance…and they are still based partly on the honor system, with government officials doing little on-site testing for salmonella. Federal inspectors review the companies’ self-reported, in-house test results, even though the laboratories that perform those tests are not required to be licensed or accredited. Penalties for health and safety violations that could lead to salmonella poisoning are nonexistent at both the state and federal levels…Iowa’s egg producers are required to test for salmonella, but they are not required to report any positive test results to either the state or the FDA…

In recent months, however, the agency has said that long-awaited federal regulations are significantly reducing the risk of salmonella infections. The agency is inspecting many egg production facilities for the first time and now has the power to recall food products rather than rely on the producers to do so voluntarily…Iowa has been the No. 1 egg-producing state in the nation for the past 10 years…Analysts have attributed Iowa’s growth in egg production to low feed costs and an industry-friendly environment…Iowa exercises almost no oversight of egg production, leaving that job to the federal government…

Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA] oversees the health of chickens, while the FDA is responsible for whole eggs. Oversight shifts back to the USDA when it comes to transportation of whole eggs…but the FDA oversees the storage of eggs at the retail level. The USDA grades eggs in production facilities, but health inspections in those same facilities falls to the FDA, which, until last year, had no rules or standards to enforce…Consumers, meanwhile, took comfort in buying eggs with the distinctive shield logo of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, unaware that it signified only that the eggs had been graded for size, not inspected for safety or quality."
source: worldhealthnews.harvard.edu