Sanitary Conditions At Egg Farms In Recall Below Standard
Health officials yesterday claimed that federal investigators were not satisfied with the sanitary conditions at the egg farms, which issued recall. The officials added that inspectors found piles of manure up to eight feet tall, live mice, pigeons and other birds inside the hen houses at the two farms- Wright County Egg and Hillandale. These farms have recalled nearly 500 million eggs since August 13.
According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at least 1,400 people got ill since May by eating bacteria contaminated eggs produced at these centers. The FDA officials inspected these two Iowa farms and have documented multiple unsanitary conditions at these farms.
The laboratory tests confirmed the presence of Salmonella enteritidis at Hillandale Farms. The water was used to wash eggs before they are packaged, said Jeff Farrar, FDA associate commissioner for food protection.
"Regarding the positive finding [of salmonella] in the egg wash water, it is important to note that after washing, all the eggs are rinsed with water containing chlorine as an additional sanitation step," Julie DeYoung, a spokeswoman for Hillandale, wrote in a statement. She stressed that the company was taking measures to address the concerns raised by the FDA.
Wright County Egg also issued a statement stressing that the company was addressing the shortcomings identified by the FDA. "Our team has worked around the clock to address concerns that were raised verbally during FDA's inspection, with many of those being fixed as soon as they were identified," the statement said. "To date, the vast majority of the concerns identified in the FDA report already have been addressed through repairs or other corrective measures. We anticipate the expeditious completion of nearly all remaining items by mid-September,” added the statement.
