US Nationwide Voluntary Egg Recall: Salmonella Risk

[David Baxter PhD]

Wright County Egg Expands Nationwide Voluntary Recall of Shell Eggs Because of Possible Health Risk
August 19, 2010

Contact:
Egg Safety Media Hotline
404/367-2761
info@eggsafety.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - August 18, 2010 - The following statement was released by officials of Wright County Egg regarding the US Food and Drug Administration?s (FDA) investigation of potential incidence of Salmonella enteritidis (SE).

Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa is expanding its voluntary recall (original recall date: August 13, 2010) of specific Julian dates of shell eggs produced by their farms because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections, endocarditis or arthritis.
Eggs affected by the expanded recall were distributed to food wholesalers, distribution centers and foodservice companies in California, Arizona, Missouri, Minnesota, Texas, Georgia, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Illinois, Utah, Nebraska, Arkansas, Wisconsin and Oklahoma. These companies distribute nationwide.

Eggs are packaged under the following brand names: Albertsons, Farm Fresh, James Farms, Glenview, Mountain Dairy, Ralphs, Boomsma, Lund, Kemps and Pacific Coast. Eggs are packed in varying sizes of cartons (6-egg cartons, dozen egg cartons, 18-egg cartons, and loose eggs for institutional use and repackaging) with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 229 and plant numbers 1720 and 1942.

Dates and codes can be found stamped on the end of the egg carton or printed on the case label. The plant number begins with the letter P and then the number. The Julian date follows the plant number, for example: P-1720 223.

Prior Recall
Eggs under the August 13, 2010 recall are packaged under the following brand names: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph?s, Boomsma?s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps. Eggs are packed in varying sizes of cartons (6-egg cartons, dozen egg cartons, 18-egg cartons, and loose eggs for institutional use and repackaging) with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 225 and plant numbers 1026, 1413 and 1946.​

There have been confirmed Salmonella enteritidis illnesses relating to the shell eggs and traceback investigations are ongoing.

Wright County Egg is fully cooperating with FDA?s investigation by undertaking this voluntary recall. Our primary concern is keeping Salmonella out of the food supply and away from consumers. As a precautionary measure, Wright County Egg also has decided to divert its existing inventory of shell eggs from the recalled plants to a breaker, where they will be pasteurized to kill any Salmonella bacteria present.

Consumers who believe they may have purchased these shell eggs should not eat them but should return them to the store where they were purchased for a full refund. This recall is of shell eggs only. Other egg products produced by Wright County Eggs are not affected. Consumers with questions should visit www.eggsafety.org9 or call Wright County?s toll-free information number (866-272-5582), which contains a message outlining recall instructions for consumers.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Re: Wright County Egg Nationwide Voluntary Recall: Possible Salmonella Risk

NuCal Foods Conducts Recall of Shell Eggs Supplied from Wright County Egg Because of Possible Health Risk
August 19, 2010

Contact:
1-877-249-8224

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Ripon, California - August 17, 2010 - The following statement was released by officials of NuCal Foods of Ripon, California regarding the voluntary recall of shell eggs supplied from Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa.

NuCal Foods is voluntarily recalling specific Julian dates of shell eggs produced by Wright County Egg and packaged by NuCal Foods because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections, endocarditis or arthritis.

Eggs affected by this recall were distributed to food wholesalers and retailers in California and Nevada. NuCal Foods received these eggs from Wright County Egg which were then packaged into 5-dozen overwrapped retail units. In addition to those products listed in the original Wright County Egg media statement dated August 13, 2010, the following products are being recalled:

Product DescriptionUPCPlant NumberJulian DatesBayview Large 5dz 7-17544-30172-1P-1686142-149Mountain Dairy Medium 5dz0-11110-89969-9P-1951193-208Nulaid Medium 5dz0-71230-02140-0P-1091167-174Nulaid Medium 5dz0-71230-02140-0P-1951195-210 Sun Valley Medium 5dz6-48065-11432-6P-1951195-209

Dates and codes can be found printed on the overwrap film. The plant number begins with the letter P and then the number. The Julian date follows the plant number, for example P-1686 142.

Wright County Egg’s media statement indicates that there have been confirmed Salmonella enteritidis illnesses relating to shell eggs from Wright County Egg, and traceback investigations are ongoing.

Consumers who believe they may have purchased these shell eggs should not eat them but should return them to the store where they were purchased for a full refund. This recall is of shell eggs only. Consumers with questions should call 1-877-249-8224 or visit www.eggsafety.org.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Salmonella in U.S. eggs sickens 1,300

Salmonella in U.S. eggs sickens 1,300
CBC News
Monday, August 23, 2010

Investigation continues as a half-billion eggs recalled

Investigators from the Food and Drug Administration are working to find the cause of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened as many as 1,300 people and forced the recall of more than a half-billion eggs.

Two Iowa farms linked to the disease outbreak ? Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms ? share suppliers of chickens and feed as well as ties to an Iowa business with a history of violating state and federal law.

The number of illnesses, which can be life-threatening, especially to those with weakened immune systems, is expected to increase. The most common symptoms are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever eight to 72 hours of eating a contaminated product.

Jewanna Porter, a spokeswoman for the egg industry, said Saturday the company Quality Egg supplies young chickens and feed to both Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. The two share other suppliers, she said, but she did not name them.

The egg industry has consolidated over recent years, placing fewer, larger businesses in control over much of the nation's egg supply to consumers.

The salmonella outbreak has raised questions about federal inspections of egg farms. The FDA oversees inspections of shell eggs, while the Agriculture Department is in charge of inspecting other egg products.

William D. Marler, a Seattle attorney for a person who filed suit alleging illness from tainted eggs in a salad at a restaurant in Kenosha, Wis., said Sunday his firm has been retained by two dozen families and was representing a woman who was hospitalized in California.
Businessman Austin (Jack) DeCoster owns Wright County Egg and Quality Egg. Wright County Egg recalled 380 million eggs Aug. 13 after it was linked to more than 1,000 cases of salmonella poisoning. A week later, Hillandale Farms recalled 170 million eggs.

DeCoster's companies have a long history of problems:

• In 1994, the state of Iowa assessed at least four separate penalties against DeCoster Farms for environmental violations, many of them involving hog waste.
• In 1997, DeCoster Egg Farms agreed to pay $2 million in fines to settle citations brought in 1996 for health and safety violations at DeCoster's farm in Turner, Maine. The nation's labour secretary at the time, Robert Reich, said conditions were "as dangerous and oppressive as any sweatshop." Reich's successor, Alexis Herman, called the state of the farms "simply atrocious," citing unguarded machinery, electrical hazards, exposure to harmful bacteria and other unsanitary conditions.
• In 2000, Iowa designated DeCoster a "habitual violator" of environmental regulations for problems that included hog manure runoff into waterways. The label made him subject to increased penalties and prohibited him from building new farms.
• In 2002, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced a more than $1.5-million settlement of an employment discrimination lawsuit against DeCoster Farms on behalf of Mexican women who reported they were subjected to sexual harassment, including rape, abuse and retaliation by some supervisory workers at DeCoster's Wright County plants.
• In 2007, 51 workers were arrested during an immigration raid at six DeCoster egg farms. His farms had been the subject of at least three previous raids.
• In June 2010, Maine Contract Farming, the successor company to DeCoster Egg Farms, agreed in state court to pay $25,000 in penalties and to make a one-time payment of $100,000 to the Maine Department of Agriculture over animal cruelty allegations that were spurred by a hidden-camera investigation by an animal welfare organization.

In a statement Sunday, Wright County Egg spokeswoman Hinda Mitchell said the company had reacted quickly in the past to correct its operations when "issues have been raised about our farms."

"We are approaching our work with FDA in the same forthright manner," she said.
The FDA investigation could take months, and sources of contamination are often difficult to find.

The CDC said last week that investigations by 10 states since April have identified 26 cases where more than one person became ill. Preliminary information showed that Wright was the supplier in at least 15 of those cases.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Feed may be source of salmonella in U.S. eggs

Feed may be source of salmonella in U.S. eggs
CBC.ca
Friday, August 27, 2010


A feed ingredient containing meat and bone meal fed to chickens on two Iowa farms may be the source of a salmonella outbreak in the U.S. that has sickened at least 1,470 people.
Investigators found salmonella in chicken feed used at Wright County Egg farm in Galt, Iowa, and at Hillandale Farms in New Hampton, Iowa, the Food and Drug Administration said.
Authorities also found additional samples of salmonella in other locations at Wright County Egg.

More than 550 million eggs from the two farms were recalled this month after they were linked to salmonella poisoning in several states.

One positive sample for salmonella was found in a feed ingredient sold to Wright County Egg from a third-party supplier, Central Bi-Products, according to the egg company. That raises new questions as to whether other egg farms also could have received contaminated feed.

Sherri McGarry of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition said the salmonella found at Wright County Egg matches the fingerprint of the salmonella found in many of those who were sickened. She said the tests indicate that contaminated feed is a source of the outbreak but possibly not the only source.

Investigation is ongoing
McGarry and other FDA officials emphasize that the agency's investigation is continuing, and they do not yet know how the feed became contaminated. Investigators are analyzing as many as 600 samples from 24 locations at the two farms.

"We will work with FDA as they expand their review of feed ingredients purchased from outside vendors for our farm, as well as for their ongoing review of our farms," said a Wright County Egg statement.

Wright County Egg's statement also asserted that a positive test does not mean eggs from that barn would have salmonella. Mitchell said the company had tested some eggs from one of the barns where salmonella was found since July, and those eggs did not test positive for salmonella.

Officials said they are not yet certain whether the feed came to the farms contaminated or was contaminated at the farms. They said there is no evidence at this time that the feed went to any other farms.

FDA Deputy Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein said investigators are not looking only at the feed but at the "overall contamination of the facility." Contamination found in the feed could be a part of a larger problem there, he said.

"While they have found it in the feed, they are not confirming any sort of cause and effect relationship," he said.

Salmonella can be life-threatening, especially to those with weakened immune systems, and the number of illnesses is expected to increase. No deaths have been reported as a result of the outbreak.

Dr. Christopher Braden, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said this is the largest outbreak of this strain of salmonella since the start of the agency's surveillance of outbreaks in the late 1970s. The second largest was an outbreak caused by raw eggs in ice cream in the 1990s in which more than 700 people became ill.

Thoroughly cooking eggs can kill the bacteria. But health officials are recommending people throw away or return the recalled eggs.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Sparboe Farms Initiated Voluntary Recall Fresh Shell Eggs

Sparboe Farms Initiated Voluntary Recall Fresh Shell Eggs
Egg Safety Media Hotline 404/367-2761
info@eggsafety.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ? August 27, 2010 ? Litchfield, Minn - Sparboe Farms is voluntarily recalling shell eggs produced by Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms which were packaged by Sparboe Farms, because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections, endocarditis, or arthritis.

Eggs affected by this recall were distributed to grocery stores and foodservice companies in the following states ? Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota.

Large, white eggs were packaged under the following brand names: Albertson, Sparboe Farms, Liborio Market, Shamrock Foods and Glenview Farms and in the following configurations and codes :

Configuration | Plant Number | Julian Dates
6 egg carton | 1167 | 214, 215, 219
12 dozen carton | 1167 | 214, 215, 219
18 dozen carton | 1167 | 214, 215, 219
2 ? dozen sleeve | 1167 | 214, 215, 219
5 dozen sleeve | 1167 | 214, 215, 219
15 dozen bulk cube | 1167 | 214, 215, 219
30 dozen bulk case | 1167 | 214, 215, 219

Extra Large eggs were packaged under the Shurfresh brand name.with the following configuration and codes:

Configuration | Plant Number | Julian Dates:
12 dozen carton | 1906 | 211 and 218

Dates and codes can be found stamped on the end of the egg cartons or the top of the over wrap bag. The plant number begins with the letter P and then the number. The Julian date follows the plant number, for example: P-1167 214.

To date Sparboe believes that the inventory that reached stores was removed and replaced.

Consumers who believe they have purchased these shell eggs should not eat them but should either destroy or return them to the store where they were purchased for a full refund. Other fresh shell eggs and egg products sold by Sparboe Farms are not affected. Consumers with questions should visit www.eggsafety.org9 or the Egg Safety Media Hotline (404) 367-2761.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Salmonella at Egg Farm Traced to 2008

Salmonella at Egg Farm Traced to 2008
By GARDINER HARRIS and WILLIAM NEUMAN, New York Times
September 14, 2010

WASHINGTON ? A major egg producer linked to an outbreak of salmonella that has sickened more than 1,500 people conducted tests as far back as 2008 that indicated the possible presence of the dangerous bacteria in its henhouses, according to records released on Tuesday by Congressional investigators.

The records show that there were 73 instances over about two years in which sponges swabbed on egg conveyor belts and other areas in Wright County Egg?s barns showed the presence of salmonella bacteria, including the strain that infects eggs and causes human illness. In at least one case, further tests showed that the toxic form, Salmonella enteritidis, was present.

Records the company provided to Congress, however, ?did not show whether Wright County Egg took appropriate steps to protect the public after receiving the positive test results,? Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, wrote in a letter this week to Austin J. DeCoster, the owner of the company.

Mr. Stupak has scheduled a hearing on Tuesday at which Mr. DeCoster, known as Jack, is expected to testify. Mr. Stupak and Representative Henry A. Waxman, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, asked Mr. DeCoster to be prepared to explain what actions his company took in response to the positive test results and ?whether you shared these results with F.D.A. or other federal or state food safety officials.?

Wright County Egg and another company, Hillandale Farms, recalled more than 500 million eggs last month after health officials traced salmonella bacteria to those companies. A subsequent inspection by the Food and Drug Administration found that the barns of the egg producers were infested with flies, maggots and rodents, and had overflowing manure pits.

The inspections were the first by the F.D.A. to check compliance with new federal egg safety rules that were written well before the current outbreak and went into effect in July.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Stupak, Karen Lightfoot, said that investigators also had lab test records from Hillandale Farms but were still reviewing them.

In his letter, Mr. Stupak noted that his committee had asked for the results of all tests taken in Wright County Egg?s barns that showed salmonella contamination. ?Despite the committee?s specific request, your response on Sept. 11, 2010, did not include the 73 potentially positive results for Salmonella enteritidis,? he wrote.

Ms. Lightfoot would not disclose how investigators uncovered the test results. The tests were mainly performed by the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Iowa State University?s College of Veterinary Medicine.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Wright County Egg said that it was committed to fully cooperating with the committee and had provided test results to Congress and the F.D.A. last week.

?We have requested and continue to ask for information from F.D.A. about how our testing results relate to the current outbreak strain being investigated,? the company said. ?We are critically interested in how this situation occurred and continue to consider that feed ingredient contamination may be a root cause of this problem.?

The discovery that Wright County Egg had known for years of possible salmonella contamination followed a similar finding more than a year ago that the Peanut Corporation of America shipped its product to customers without waiting for test results to prove that it was safe. When test results showed that the product was contaminated, the company?s plant manager responded with an e-mail saying, ?Uh-oh,? but did not order that the product be returned.

Eight deaths and more than 550 illnesses were associated with the contaminated peanut product, which led to one of the largest food recalls in the nation?s history.

In the case of Wright County Egg, nearly all of the tests appear to be of areas within the barns, not of the eggs themselves. When such environmental tests show contamination, it is cause for concern but not proof that the food products are contaminated.

Under the new federal egg rules, a test of the farm environment that shows the presence of the toxic form of the bacteria would require that eggs from the farm be tested. If the bacteria is present in the eggs, then they would have to be diverted to pasteurization, a process that destroys the bacteria.

Broad food safety legislation passed by the House last year would allow the F.D.A. to require that, in some instances, the results of safety tests be automatically forwarded to regulators. Companion legislation pending in the Senate, however, does not give the F.D.A. the power to ask that such records automatically be turned over. Both bills, however, would require that companies provide such records to F.D.A. inspectors upon request.

?This once again highlights how outdated our 70-year-old food law is,? said Erik Olson, deputy director of the Pew Health Group. ?If a food company has known problems, it?s unclear at what point they have to report that to the F.D.A. ? if ever.?

In a statement on Tuesday, the F.D.A. said it was continuing to ?review records and evaluate the results of our inspections.?

Gregory P. Martin, a poultry specialist at Pennsylvania State University, said that for many years, thousands of salmonella tests had been done annually on egg farms in Pennsylvania as part of a voluntary program that had been highly successful in combating salmonella. Mr. Martin said that it was rare for those tests to yield a positive result for Group D salmonella, the group identified in the 73 tests at Wright County Egg farms and which includes Salmonella enteritidis.

?If it shows up in the environment, it?s a red flag that we need to look further to help eliminate it off the farm,? Mr. Martin said.

The records released by Congress showed hundreds of instances in which salmonella of some type was found at Wright County Egg farms.

But Mr. Martin said the presence of generic salmonella on a farm meant little, since there were many types of harmless salmonella in the environment. But any samples that show the presence of Group D salmonella should be sent for further testing for the toxic form, he said.

The test reports released by Congressional investigators showed that in many cases, the samples were sent for further testing, but it was generally unclear what the additional testing found.

Only one report, dated Aug. 4, just days before the recall, showed that additional testing had confirmed the presence of Salmonella enteritidis.