Why Did Government Egg Graders Not Notice Contaminated Eggs?

[The Straight Story]

Why Did Government Egg Graders Not Notice Contaminated Eggs?


Inspectors working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture have come under scrutiny for not doing more to prevent the outbreak of salmonella at two Iowa egg processors that sold hundreds of millions of tainted eggs to stores and restaurants.

The Associated Press reported that two former workers at one of the egg farms told USDA inspectors about health concerns at the site, but were ignored. The two former workers of Wright County Egg facilities said they reported problems involving leaking manure and the presence of dead chickens. A USDA spokesman said the inspector at the Wright facility did not recall anyone raising concerns, and added that the inspectors’ job was to check eggs, not the surrounding farm. Inspectors spent 40 hours a week at Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms.

However, USA Today reported that USDA regulations require buildings and “outside premises” to be free of conditions that harbor vermin.

Furthermore, officials from the Food and Drug Administration documented filthy conditions in and around barns where chickens laid eggs at the two Iowa companies.

http://www.allgov.com/Controversies/ViewNews/Why_Did_Government_Egg_Graders_Not_Notice_Contaminated_Eggs_100905

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[gophates]

2. More likely because they are overworked and understaffed

Because our corporate masters don't care if they poison and kill people as long as the money comes in.

[Name removed]

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[jpak]

8. They are - egg inspectors have to be in the candle rooms and packing plants

A handful of egg inspectors oversee the processing of millions of eggs per day at these facilities.

They don't have time to inspect production houses scattered all over the state.

teabaggin' nonsense

:thumbsdown:

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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[jpak]

11. LOL!!!111

:rofl:

[gophates]

18. You said it, chief.

[jpak]

19. Yeah - Jack DeCoster can inspect his eggs better than any pointy-headed bureekrat

and more efficiently too!

:rofl:

[quaker bill]

22. Actually it was a tad too "efficient"

Most plans to increase the "efficiency" of government since Reagan have involved staff cuts and faster throughput of whatever it is. Like review of oil well drilling applications. This is where "categorical exclusions" come from. With shorter and shorter manpower, you end up picking your targets carefully and putting the rest on ignore / rubber stamping lists, or you "exclude" them altogether. How closely and carefully do you think an inspector can look at 500 million eggs in a month or two?

[Hello_Kitty]

23. The correct term is 'teabagger'. eom

[shraby]

4. You want the companies to inspect their own eggs? Yeah,

that would work.
:sarcasm:

[PSPS]

13. Oh no! Not pizza for breakfast!

[Vickers]

14. Yeah, that gubmint is so BAAAAD!

:rofl:

[surrealAmerican]

15. I'm confused.

Just who do you think should be inspecting our food supply if not the government?

Private industry does rather worse in situations like this.

[jpak]

17. Shhhh - Ayn Rand cannot be criticized

nope

[Radical Activist]

20. Because Bush administration hires are still in government

and they engage in acts of deliberate sabotage to make government look ineffective. You fell for it.

[Hannah Bell]

21. per the article, the graders *did* report concerns. it was the upper echelons who failed.

because they're in bed with the profiteers.

[notadmblnd]

3. because they're getting paid off by the corporations to not notice.

[jpak]

6. When I worked for Jack DeCoster in ME, we had a heat wave that killed hundreds of thousands of hens

The surviving hens just laid their eggs on the rotting feces-fouled carcasses of the dead hens - and egg collection went on as usual.

I spent weeks pulling half-mummified half-decaying dead hens from cages - and there was at least one dead hen per cage.

:puke:

This was business as usual at DeCoster operations

I am not surprised by these new reports.

[Strelnikov_]

7. Atlas shrugged n/t

[stray cat]

9. Do you know anything at all about how Salmonella is detected in their egg screens

and what percentage of eggs are screen biochemically?

[Codeine]

12. Why don't people realize that eating eggs produced on an industrial scale

is inherently dangerous for the consumer and really nasty for the animals involved? There is simply no way to ensure cleanliness or food safety (not to mention humane husbandry, which I'll concede very few people even begin to give a fuck about) reliably in a factory farm environment.

[Bitwit1234]

16. Since the germs are invisible how could they know they are on

the eggs. What they should do is inspect the Hen Pens. After this outbreak they found all kinds of filth in these pens.

[Odin2005]

24. Regulatory Capture. Our agencies are run by industry hacks.

This shit makes me more and more sympathetic to the Libertarian position (the REAL libertarians, not the Pukes that smoke pot), what use are regulatory agencies when they are corrupted by the industries they are supposed to control?