Former egg farm workers say complaints ignored

FDA Inspectors only concerned with grading eggs not the sanitary conditions.

The USDA employees worked next to areas where roughly 7.7 million caged hens laid eggs at the two operations, but agency spokesman Caleb Weaver said their main duties are "grading" the eggs and they aren't primarily responsible for looking for health problems

Two former workers at Wright County Egg facilities, Robert and Deanna Arnold, said they reported problems such as leaking manure and dead chickens to USDA employees, but nothing was done.

Click on the following for more details:  Business & Technology | Former egg farm workers say complaints ignored | Seattle Times Newspaper

F.D.A. Links Salmonella to Egg Farms and Chicken Feed

Sherri McGarry, a Food and Drug Administration official, said salmonella was found in feed given to young birds, known as pullets, that were raised by a DeCoster facility for use at both its own farms and at Hillandale Farms. The bacteria was also found in bone meal

[Iowa] is the largest egg producer now, by far. Fifteen billion eggs are expected to come from Iowa this year from 60 million hens.

Click on the following for more details:  F.D.A. Links Salmonella to Egg Farms and Chicken Feed - NYTimes.com

U.S. Forgoes Salmonella Vaccine for Egg Safety -

 

there was not enough evidence to conclude that vaccinating hens against salmonella would prevent people from getting sick. The Food and Drug Administration decided not to mandate vaccination of hens — a precaution that would cost less than a penny per a dozen eggs.

many industry experts say the absence of mandatory vaccination greatly weakens the F.D.A. rules, depriving them of a crucial step that could prevent future outbreaks.

One-half to two-thirds of American farmers already inoculate their flocks, according to industry estimates, and that number is likely to increase. While the new federal rules do not require vaccination, they do require testing for salmonella.

Click on the following for more details:  U.S. Forgoes Salmonella Vaccine for Egg Safety - NYTimes.com

U.S. Forgoes Salmonella Vaccine for Egg Safety -

 

there was not enough evidence to conclude that vaccinating hens against salmonella would prevent people from getting sick. The Food and Drug Administration decided not to mandate vaccination of hens — a precaution that would cost less than a penny per a dozen eggs.

many industry experts say the absence of mandatory vaccination greatly weakens the F.D.A. rules, depriving them of a crucial step that could prevent future outbreaks.

Click on the following for more details:  U.S. Forgoes Salmonella Vaccine for Egg Safety - NYTimes.com

Egg Industry Faces New Scrutiny After Outbreak

 

By any historical measure, American egg production is efficient and comparatively safe. The current recall is the largest in memory, but involves only a small fraction of the 70 billion eggs produced annually, mostly by hens who spend their lives with six or seven others in cages the size of an open newspaper, their droppings carried away by one conveyer belt while the eggs are whisked off by another.

Click on the following for more details from the NYTimes:  Egg Industry Faces New Scrutiny After Outbreak - NYTimes.com

Before salmonella outbreak, egg firm had long record of violations

In the past 20 years, according to the public record, the DeCoster family operation, one of the 10 largest egg producers in the country, has withstood a string of reprimands, penalties and complaints about its performance in several states.

-- In 1996, DeCoster was fined $3.6 million for health and safety violations at the family's Turner egg farm, which then-Labor Secretary Robert Reich termed "as dangerous and oppressive as any sweatshop we have seen." Regulators found that workers had been forced to handle manure and dead chickens with their bare hands and to live in filthy trailers.

-- In 1999, the company paid $5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit involving unpaid overtime for 3,000 workers.

-- In 2001, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that DeCoster was a "repeat violator" of state environmental laws, citing violations involving the family's hog-farming operations. The family was forbidden to expand its hog-farming interests in the state.

-- Also in 2001, DeCoster Farms of Iowa settled, for $1.5 million, a complaint brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the company had subjected 11 undocumented female workers from Mexico to a "sexually hostile work environment," including sexual assault and rape by supervisors.

-- In 2002, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the family's Maine Contract Farming branch $345,810 for an array of violations. The same year, DeCoster Egg Farms of Maine paid $3.2 million to settle a lawsuit filed in 1998 by Mexican workers alleging discrimination in housing and working conditions.

-- In 2003, Jack DeCoster paid the federal government $2.1 million as part of a plea agreement after federal agents found more than 100 undocumented workers at his Iowa egg farms. It was the largest penalty ever against an Iowa employer. Three years later, agents found 30 workers suspected of being illegal immigrants at a DeCoster farm in Iowa. And in 2007, raids at other DeCoster Iowa farms uncovered 51 more suspected undocumented workers.

-- In 2006, Ohio's Agriculture Department revoked the permits of Ohio Fresh Eggs because its new co-owners, including Hillandale founder Orland Bethel, had failed to disclose that DeCoster had put up $126 million for the purchase, far more than their $10,000, and was heavily involved in managing the company. By playing down DeCoster's role, the owners had avoided a background check into DeCoster's "habitual violator" status in Iowa. An appeals panel overturned the revocation, saying the disclosure was adequate.

-- In 2008, OSHA cited DeCoster's Maine Contract Farming for violations that included forcing workers to retrieve eggs the previous winter from inside a building that had collapsed under ice and snow.

Click on the following for more of this Washington Post story:  Before salmonella outbreak, egg firm had long record of violations

Gov. Doyle of Wisconsin signs state ban on BPA in children’s cups - - HealthyRockford.com

Bisphenol A, commonly abbreviated as BPA, is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups. It is a difunctional building block of several important plastics and plastic additives. With an annual production of 2–3 million metric tonnes, . 

The potentially dangerous chemical Bisphenol-A will be banned in all cups sold in Wisconsin for young children under a bill signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Jim Doyle.
Wisconsin is the third state, after Minnesota and Connecticut, to pass such a ban.

The American Chemistry Council, an industry trade group that represents BPA producers including Dow Chemical Co., has said BPA is safe and has been widely used for more than half a century.

The FDA has set aside $30 million for additional studies over the next two years.

Chicago also has a BPA ban applying to bottles and cups intended for those 3 and younger

Click on the following for more details:  Doyle signs state ban on BPA in children’s cups - - HealthyRockford.com

What's in a cigarette? FDA to study ingredients

In June, tobacco companies must tell the FDA their formulas for the first time, just as drugmakers have for decades. Manufacturers also will have to turn over any studies they've done on the effects of the ingredients.

Click on the following for more details:  Business & Technology | What's in a cigarette? FDA to study ingredients | Seattle Times Newspaper

Washington Legislature votes ban on BPA in kids' containers

Washington will become the third state to ban bisphenol A, known as BPA, in some products. Connecticut and Minnesota have outlawed some BPA products, and several other states are expected to debate similar measures soon.

[includes] ban on the chemical bisphenol A in baby bottles, sippy cups and other food containers if they are to be used by children 3 or younger.

The Food and Drug Administration earlier this month for the first time said it was expressing "some concern" about BPA's effects and would spend $30 million doing more research.

Click on the following for more details:  Local News | Senate votes ban on BPA in kids' containers | Seattle Times Newspaper