FDA Says Salmonella Egg Outbreak Inspection Program Remains on Track
The Salmonella egg outbreak that has sickened at least 1,600 Americans since May has put an egg facility inspection program run by the Food and Drug Administration under a spotlight.
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The FDA's Deputy Commissioner for Foods, Michael Taylor said this week in a letter to the New York Times that the anti-Salmonella inspection program is on track. "In response to the Salmonella outbreak that led to the recall of more than 500 million eggs, the agency will inspect all 600 of the nation’s largest egg producers by the end of 2011,'' Taylor said. These inspections have already begun, starting with facilities considered at highest risk because of past problems, he said.
The Times ran a story last week noting gaffes in the FDA's egg facility inspection training program. A top FDA egg expert broke a basic biosecurity rule by parking her van near a henhouse where she was giving a training session in Pennsylvania. It was called to her attention but she then repeated the act at another training session, where she became argumentative. The issue with vehicles is that they can track manure on roads too close to where eggs are laid.
The FDA confirmed to the Times that the person involved in the incidents was removed from the inspection program and that the program is on track. Said Taylor: "The agency is committed to ensuring the safety of the nation's egg supply.''
Meanwhile, an egg class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of victims across the country. To contact an egg Salmonella lawyer, call national Salmonella law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or complete the contact form on the side of this Web page. We represent those sickened with Salmonella Enteritidis associated with shell eggs from Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms of Iowa.
Two attorneys from our firm and an investigator have returned from a court-approved inspection of the Iowa egg plants and information garnered in our investigation is bolstering an egg lawsuit that our firm filed soon after the outbreak was revealed. Families who are looking for assistance can go to our online Salmonella egg claim center for more information and details about the outbreak and how to recover money as compensation for medical expenses, pain, suffering and other harms caused by this contamination.
