Four years after at least 1,800 consumers were sickened by
eggs from Iowa farms owned by Austin (Jack) DeCoster, none of the recommended
regulatory reforms have been adopted.
And DeCoster and his son are awaiting sentencing on criminal
charges.
The food poisoning prompted a recall of half a billion eggs.
But when reporters and others delved into the background,
they found that DeCoster eggs had previously poisoned consumers in New York
State and Maine, prompting New York to ban the company.
They found a similar situation in Maryland; DeCoster sold
his business there and concentrated operations in Iowa which had lax
egg-industry regulations.
The investigators learned that DeCoster knew when inspectors
would be coming.
Iowa still does not require on-farm inspections to determine
whether there is salmonella in the flocks.
It was salmonella enteriditis that
poisoned consumers.
There is a high risk when cracked eggs which go through
contaminated wash water are allowed on the market. The bacteria can enter via
the cracks and then poison meals where raw eggs are an ingredient.
There are some disturbing Canadian parallels with Iowa, one of them being Canadian Food Inspection Agency files that confirm that cracked eggs continue to be marketed by the nation's two largest egg-producing and egg-grading companies - L.H. Gray & Son Ltd. of Strathroy and Burnbrae Farms of Lyn, both in Ontario.
And those companies also used to know when CFIA inspectors were coming and staff used to work hard to get everything spiffed up for those inspections. Apparently the CFIA stopped giving prior notice after this blog reported on the advance notices.
