Salmonella hunt homes in on feed sources in 500 million egg recall
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Pastor Dale Morgan
Aug 28, 2010, 8:10:13 PM8/28/10
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Plagues, Pestilences and Diseases
Salmonella hunt homes in on feed sources in 500 million egg recall
FDA officials said Thursday that investigators found salmonella in chicken feed at two Iowa farms linked to the recent egg recall.
HOW TO CHECK EGGS
Eggs affected by the recall are sold under the following brands: Albertson, Boomsma's, Dutch Farms, Farm Fresh, Hillandale, Kemps, Lucerne, Lund, Mountain Dairy, Ralph's, Shoreland, Sunshine and Trafficanda.
The eggs are in cartons from plant numbers 1026, 1413 and 1946, with dates ranging from 136 to 225. Dates and codes can be found stamped on the end of the egg carton. The plant number begins with P, then the number. The date follows the plant number. For example: P-1946 223.
By Elizabeth Weise and Phillip Brasher, USA TODAY
Federal and state investigators have found salmonella enteritidis in two barns at Wright County Egg in Iowa and two positive samples of feed given to young hens at both Wright County and Hillandale Farms.
The egg producers are at the heart of an outbreak that has sickened as many as 1,470 people and led to the recall of more than half a billion eggs.
Food and Drug Administration officials described their findings in a Thursday briefing, but acknowledged questions remain.
The FDA tested both the feed as a whole and its ingredients separately. One of the positive samples was in the chicken feed and the other was in bone meal used as an ingredient in the feed, says Sherri McGarry, emergency coordinator with the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. The feed doesn't appear to have gone to any other farms.
The feed came from Quality Egg, owned by the family that owns Wright County Egg. Quality Egg provided feed not only to Wright County Egg, but sold feed and pullets (hens not yet laying) to a separate egg producer, Hillandale Farms, officials say.
"The feed mill is part of the Wright County Egg production facility," says Jeff Farrar, associate commissioner for food protection with the FDA's Office of Foods. "We don't know if the feed ingredients came to the facility contaminated or if the feed was contaminated at the facility. That's part of our ongoing investigation."
Feed could be infected via multiple routes, including rodents, insects or even workers' clothing, he says.
Companies are responsible for testing feed to ensure it is a safe product, says Daniel McChesney, director of the Office of Surveillance at the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine.
Feed mills normally are regulated by the FDA and by state agencies, and inspectors would look for rodent control and other sanitation measures. However, this mill was exempt from inspection because it was the company's own, says Dustin Vande Hoef, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
It's important to note that infected feed doesn't necessarily mean that the feed is the original source of the infection, says Joshua Sharfstein, deputy commissioner of the FDA.
"I don't want anybody to think that there's an off-site feed manufacturer that caused this," Sharfstein says. The FDA doesn't know that yet, he says.
An Energy and Commerce subcommittee in the House of Representatives plans to hold a hearing on the recall Sept. 14 and has invited the owners of Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farm0s to testify.
Salmonella hunt homes in on feed sources in 500 million egg recall
FDA officials said Thursday that investigators found salmonella in chicken feed at two Iowa farms linked to the recent egg recall.
HOW TO CHECK EGGS
Eggs affected by the recall are sold under the following brands: Albertson, Boomsma's, Dutch Farms, Farm Fresh, Hillandale, Kemps, Lucerne, Lund, Mountain Dairy, Ralph's, Shoreland, Sunshine and Trafficanda.
The eggs are in cartons from plant numbers 1026, 1413 and 1946, with dates ranging from 136 to 225. Dates and codes can be found stamped on the end of the egg carton. The plant number begins with P, then the number. The date follows the plant number. For example: P-1946 223.
By Elizabeth Weise and Phillip Brasher, USA TODAY
Federal and state investigators have found salmonella enteritidis in two barns at Wright County Egg in Iowa and two positive samples of feed given to young hens at both Wright County and Hillandale Farms.
The egg producers are at the heart of an outbreak that has sickened as many as 1,470 people and led to the recall of more than half a billion eggs.
Food and Drug Administration officials described their findings in a Thursday briefing, but acknowledged questions remain.
The FDA tested both the feed as a whole and its ingredients separately. One of the positive samples was in the chicken feed and the other was in bone meal used as an ingredient in the feed, says Sherri McGarry, emergency coordinator with the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. The feed doesn't appear to have gone to any other farms.
The feed came from Quality Egg, owned by the family that owns Wright County Egg. Quality Egg provided feed not only to Wright County Egg, but sold feed and pullets (hens not yet laying) to a separate egg producer, Hillandale Farms, officials say.
"The feed mill is part of the Wright County Egg production facility," says Jeff Farrar, associate commissioner for food protection with the FDA's Office of Foods. "We don't know if the feed ingredients came to the facility contaminated or if the feed was contaminated at the facility. That's part of our ongoing investigation."
Feed could be infected via multiple routes, including rodents, insects or even workers' clothing, he says.
Companies are responsible for testing feed to ensure it is a safe product, says Daniel McChesney, director of the Office of Surveillance at the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine.
Feed mills normally are regulated by the FDA and by state agencies, and inspectors would look for rodent control and other sanitation measures. However, this mill was exempt from inspection because it was the company's own, says Dustin Vande Hoef, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
It's important to note that infected feed doesn't necessarily mean that the feed is the original source of the infection, says Joshua Sharfstein, deputy commissioner of the FDA.
"I don't want anybody to think that there's an off-site feed manufacturer that caused this," Sharfstein says. The FDA doesn't know that yet, he says.
An Energy and Commerce subcommittee in the House of Representatives plans to hold a hearing on the recall Sept. 14 and has invited the owners of Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farm0s to testify.
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