Register investigation: Egg farms rack up violations
FDA finds unsanitary conditions, keeps key data secret
A review of egg production in Iowa last year by then-Gov. Chet Culver’s office found that effective federal oversight had been hampered by “rivalries and a lack of viable communications amongst two major federal agencies and at least 13 additional federal bodies.” The review, by Culver legal counsel Jim Larew, indicated that the work of those 15 federal entities was dictated by at least 71 interagency agreements dealing with egg production, distribution and consumption.
Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees the health of chickens, while the FDA is responsible for whole eggs. Oversight shifts back to the USDA when it comes to transportation of whole eggs. Broken eggs, which are made into liquid egg products, are overseen by the USDA, but the FDA oversees the storage of eggs at the retail level. The USDA grades eggs in production facilities, but health inspections in those same facilities falls to the FDA, which, until last year, had no rules or standards to enforce.
With virtually no state oversight, and federal oversight tied in a Gordian knot, many Iowa egg producers have operated for decades without ever being visited by a government food-safety inspector. Consumers, meanwhile, took comfort in buying eggs with the distinctive shield logo of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, unaware that it signified only that the eggs had been graded for size, not inspected for safety or quality.
Last July, new food-safety regulations that were 12 years in the making finally took effect. As part of its new enforcement efforts, the FDA set out to inspect about 600 of the nation’s largest egg producers.
Read the whole piece but, the above excerpted piece tells you what you get from Federal inspections
A review of egg production in Iowa last year by then-Gov. Chet Culver’s office found that effective federal oversight had been hampered by “rivalries and a lack of viable communications amongst two major federal agencies and at least 13 additional federal bodies.” The review, by Culver legal counsel Jim Larew, indicated that the work of those 15 federal entities was dictated by at least 71 interagency agreements dealing with egg production, distribution and consumption.
Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees the health of chickens, while the FDA is responsible for whole eggs. Oversight shifts back to the USDA when it comes to transportation of whole eggs. Broken eggs, which are made into liquid egg products, are overseen by the USDA, but the FDA oversees the storage of eggs at the retail level. The USDA grades eggs in production facilities, but health inspections in those same facilities falls to the FDA, which, until last year, had no rules or standards to enforce.
With virtually no state oversight, and federal oversight tied in a Gordian knot, many Iowa egg producers have operated for decades without ever being visited by a government food-safety inspector. Consumers, meanwhile, took comfort in buying eggs with the distinctive shield logo of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, unaware that it signified only that the eggs had been graded for size, not inspected for safety or quality.
Last July, new food-safety regulations that were 12 years in the making finally took effect. As part of its new enforcement efforts, the FDA set out to inspect about 600 of the nation’s largest egg producers.
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