Scientist found evidence Iowa hens were "almost certainly" laying salmonella-tainted eggs

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(AP) IOWA CITY, Iowa - Records show an Iowa State University scientist found evidence sick hens at farms owned by an Iowa egg producer were "almost certainly" laying eggs contaminated with salmonella months before one of the nation's largest outbreaks of food-borne illness.

Testing records filed as part of a civil lawsuit show scientists at ISU's Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory found salmonella in manure at several Iowa egg-laying plants and in the internal organs of dead birds in the months before the August 2010 recall of 550 million eggs.

The laboratory reported the results to the company requesting tests, but scientists say they had no legal or ethical obligation to alert regulators or consumers since salmonella is not a reportable disease.

Lab director Rodger Main says it was up to the company to take appropriate action.

[smirk5]

Cons like the lack of regulations that make things like this more likely.
And, when the company was informed, did it do the right thing? No.
So much for the private market policing itself.

[creeper00]

by rharrin1 June 4, 2012 6:49 PM EDT

(sigh) There's one in every crowd. Please go away so the adults can have an intelligent conversation.

[ryree67]

I've been eating eggs from my mom's farm for nearly 40 years uncleaned(quick rinsing or dry cleaning when needed) and sometimes even raw(cookie dough)and have never been sick from eating them this way. Here's why: Eggs are layed with a coating that has a natural antibiotic. Factory farms wash this natural coating off with a chlorine bath and sometimes then add a coating of mineral oil. Chlorine can interact with organic materials to form highly toxic compounds called DBPs (Disinfection Byproducts), which can be carcinogenic and mutagenic. Factory farm hens live a miserable life in a cage where they cannot stand up or turn around. They live without sunshine and fresh air. They live on a diet of grains. Have you seen the eggs that are twice as expensive as other eggs because they say "natural eggs, whole grain fed chickens." This means nothing. All factory farmed eggs are grain fed. Give anything a mostly grain fed diet of corn/wheat and you will see health decline. Our farm raised chickens spend their days outside. A chicken will consume a large amount of grass. They will consume small rocks and dirt for the minerals. They eat tiny bugs. Their yolks are not yellow like store bought eggs but a deep dark orange. Look up grass fed beef and e coli and see why it is so much lower in cows that are not grain fed. Grain is fed to fatten animals up quickly(same reason why we humans are fat.) We eat animal products that are raised cheaply in crowded, dirty conditions. Animals are treated poorly, their health declines, they are pumped full of antibiotics, grain is genetically modified and sprayed generously with pesticides. We are paying the price with our health for the profit of these large factory farms.

[wizardlady]

poisoning?

The only effective way to kill salmonella bacteria is with heat. For this reason it is essential to cook food thoroughly.

So if you must eat raw eggs, give them a five second boiling water bath before using, as the S. bacteria is most likely on the shell outside. Educate the public, not cause hysteria and destroy the livelihood of producers.

[Jaylah54100]

Given the fact that a salmonella-infected chicken can lay eggs which hatch into salmonella-infected chicks, your idea that the salmonella bacteria is only on the outside of the shell is more than a big specious.

Suggesting that a 5-second boiling water bath is going to do any good at all is nothing more than spreading bad information making people thing they're safe when they really aren't.

We're not talking about destroying the livelihood of innocent producers here.

• The founder, Austin Jackson DeCoster, pleaded guilty to federal immigration charges in 2003 and paid a record $2.1 million in penalties.

• In 2002, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission imposed a $1.5 million penalty for mistreatment of female workers, including charges of rape, sexual harassment and other abuse.

• In 2001, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that DeCoster, a repeat violator of state environmental laws, could finance, but not build, hog confinement operations for his son, Peter DeCoster, who is now closely involved with the Wright County egg operations.

• Earlier this year, the elder DeCoster paid a fine to settle state animal cruelty charges against his egg operations in Maine.

Google "Wright County Egg" and "DeCoster Farms."

[Jaylah54100]

And, amazingly enough, those farms are still in production.

No new regulations have been added requiring them to answer to inspectors.

The two farms involved have been slapped with fines several times in the past, but evidently it's cheaper just to pay the fines than fix the problem.

If you google "Iowa egg recall" you can find old articles with the brand names of the eggs involved. If you're smart, you won't take anybody's word for the "fact" that those eggs are safe now, but will continue to avoid those brands.

[lillyhorton]

So what is making the birds sick? Is the grain companies are feeding them tainted with chemicals used to increase crop? Are the hormones farmers pump the hens up with causing health issues in the way hens process food? Is this a warning to the public that chicken products may not be good for our health. Have scientist gathered information on how many dogs and cats who eat chicken by products fared over the years?

[Jaylah54100]

Usually it's because of rat or rodent droppings in the huge barns where they're kept caged.

A rat finds the feed (oooh, gourmet smorgasbord!) then poops in the feed. The chickens eat the feed, and they're infected. Then they either poop in the food some other chicken eats, infecting the other bird, or they poop in the water trough and some other bird drinks the poopy water. Another bird infected!

Also, chicks can be born infected if their mother was already infected when she laid the egg the chick hatched from.

So, basically, it goes back to rats.

[rharrin1]

So what is making the birds sick?

Republicans, they always play dirty.

[gjc1n1]

Perhaps I could understand no "legal" requirement to report the lab results but no "ethical" resaon? Are you human or what? What if one of your family members had contracted salmonella from those bad eggs? Sometimes I wonder about some people. Zero brains.