Jonathan Campbell
Health and Economic Research

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The National Egg Recall
August 23, 2010

The FDA has announced voluntary recalls of a half billion eggs in the Midwest. But in several articles, salmonella poisoning cases in states not involved in the recall were mentioned. What’s going on?

The issue here is the state of egg farming. Some of the largest providers of eggs around the country run “industrial” farms in which the chickens are stacked in cages on top of each other (yes, literally, chicken droppings falling on top of chickens, high stacks of them). Millions of chickens, stacked row by row, column by column. The farms most cited by government officials and animal rights activists are run by the DeCoster family.

The farms involved in the giant national egg recall – Quality Egg, Country Eggs, Wright County Eggs, and Hillandale Farms – are either run by DeCoster or are supplied by them. DeCoster Farms in Turner Maine, the largest suppliers of eggs in New England, was recently renamed “Maine Contract Farming” but just in June 2010 paid penalties and payments of $125,000 for animal cruelty, and before then DeCoster was cited for numerous environmental, labor, and animal rights abuses on farms all over the country dating back to the 1990s.

So, it would not be surprising to find that there are cases of salmonella caused by eggs that were not produced on the Iowa farms involved in the recall: they are all produced in the same unsanitary conditions – caged, industrial egg and chicken farms.

My advice: Buy and eat only cage-free or organic eggs. If your grocer doesn’t have them, go elsewhere. They are available at many supermarkets such as Whole Foods.

Regards
Jonathan Campbell
Health Consultant
Editor – Boston Community Alert and Bulletin

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References:

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6580952-update-the-incredible-inedible-eggs12-billion-now-recalled-traced-to-safety-violations-farm-in-iowa

Hillandale Farms of Iowa Conducts Nationwide Voluntary Recall of Shell Eggs Because of Possible Health Risk: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm223452.htm

COUNTRY Eggs, Inc. Initiates Voluntary Recall of Large AA Loose 15 dozen Fresh Shell Eggs Because of Possible Health Risk: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm223328.htm

New England Egg Farm Conditions So Bad, They Sickened State Investigators: http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/04/new-england-egg-farm-conditions-so-bad-they-sickened-state-investigators/

Iowa Egg Farms Drawing Scrutiny: http://www.pressherald.com/news/nationworld/iowa-egg-farms-drawing-scrutiny_2010-08-23.html

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