Egg Farm Inspections Find More Salmonella
Following last year's egg Salmonella outbreak , which sickened nearly 2,000 people around the country from May through November, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) set out to inspect 600 facilities where 80 percent of the nation's egg supply originates.
Through December, FDA had inspected 35 egg farms in Ohio, Maine, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and Washington. They were chosen because they had been associated with previous outbreaks or had a history of poor compliance. Nine separate companies operate the 35 farms..jpg)
According to the Washington Post, inspectors found 76 positive swabs of Salmonella in facilities owned by one producer. All together, 12 of the 35 farms inspected so far needed to take action to fix problems. Eleven others did not. Evaluations of the remaining 12 farms are still pending. The FDA did not name any of the farms in its initial report. Most of the problems cited by the agency involve inadequate record keeping, but inspectors found one hen house with inadequate control of rodents, which are known to spread Salmonella bacteria. The egg farm inspections are expected to be completed in 2010.
Public health investigators from 11 states, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) combined efforts last year to track a widespread outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis to Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, and Hillandale Farms of Iowa Inc. When the FDA inspected the facilities, they found substantial potential for Salmonella to have persisted in the environment and to have contaminated eggs. Combined, the two mega-farms recalled more than 550 million shell eggs and temporarily stopped mass market sales.
An egg Salmonella lawsuit is pending and national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., is representing victims of the outbreak. Attorneys are continuing to accept new cases from those who received confirmation of Salmonella infection matching the DNA fingerprint of the outbreak strain. Call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete our online contact form to talk to an attorney and to receive a free case consultation. Our law firm has collected millions of dollars for victims of food poisoning and is actively involved in multiple efforts to prevent foodborne illness in the United States.
