AFP - 1 hour 19 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) - – Contaminated chicken feed is likely to blame for a salmonella outbreak at two major US egg producers that has already sickened some 1,700 people, federal health officials said.
"We don't know if the feeding ingredients came to the facility contaminated or if the feed got contaminated at the facility," said Jeff Farrar, the associate commissioner for food protection at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Farrar told reporters the chicken feed in question had only gone to two Iowa farms -- Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms -- and not been distributed elsewhere in the country.
The two farms recalled more than half a billion eggs last week -- the industry's biggest such recall in US history -- after learning salmonella from their products sickened consumers. Several dozen egg brands in 22 US states were affected by the move.
"We are looking at all possibilities here of how contamination could have gone into the feed or on to the farm," Farrar said.
"This contamination can come in through numerous routes -- including rodents, shared equipment, workers -- so we are looking into all those possibilities in our investigation."
Health experts say salmonella is spread most often by the consumption of food contaminated by animal fecal matter.
The microbe usually flourishes within the intestinal tracts of fowl and mammals.
Some 1,700 people have fallen ill in the United States from salmonella found in fresh eggs between May 1 and August 25, according to Christopher Braden, acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's foodborne diseases division.
An estimated 400,000 people are infected with food-borne salmonella each year in the United States, according to the CDC. It can be deadly to vulnerable populations such as the young, elderly, or those with compromised immune systems.
Recent years have seen various massive food recalls in the United States -- from salmonella-tainted peanut butter to pistachios to frozen spinach and milk -- amid criticism that America's food regulation regime is under-staffed.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
US salmonella egg scare shows danger of 'mega producers'
AFP - 1 hour 27 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) - – The massive recall in US markets of more than half a billion eggs possibly tainted with salmonella shows the dangers of concentrating the egg industry in just a handful of "mega producers," US food industry critics said.
"Salmonella in eggs was not a problem in the United States until the 1980s when these huge mega producers were born," Fast Food Nation bestseller author Eric Schlosser told CNN.
More than 2,000 people have been infected with salmonella enteriditis bacteria since May, leading to a recent recall of more than half a million fresh eggs, one of the biggest in the industry's history, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.
The recalls concern two chicken egg processors -- Hillandale Farms and Wright County Eggs, both in the midwestern state of Iowa -- and cover several dozen brands across 22 US states, US authorities said.
The source of salmonella in egg-laying chickens could come from contaminated food or fecal matter from infected rodents invading the coops.
Nearly all egg-production in the United States (95 percent) is presently concentrated in the hands of some 200 companies, compared to around 2,500 farms in 1987, according to the United Egg Producers group.
Thirteen companies alone raise more than five million egg-laying chickens each, with five US states accounting for most of the estimated 280 million egg layers in the country: California, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
"There should not be any salmonella in the eggs. Until 20 years ago, there really wasn't any. It's once you've got those mega mega producers putting 150,000 birds in one building that you start to get that kind of diseases," said Schlosser.
"When you cram the birds so closely together it will spread disease from one animal to another," he added.
The salmonella outbreak reached national concern by mid-August, with millions of American wondering if they should now skip their favorite breakfast food.
It brought back the 2009 salmonella outbreak in peanut butter, another favorite US food, which infected thousands of people and killed nine.
Other salmonella recalls in recent years included pistachios, frozen spinach, and milk, feeding criticism that America's food regulation regime is under-staffed and overtaxed.
With the latest salmonella scare, the FDA has renewed its appeals for greater recall and inspection authority. The US Congress has responded by recently passing a law expanding the FDA's recall powers, which up to now were made by companies on a voluntary basis.
The egg recall, said Schlosser, "is partly a breakdown in our regulatory system, but it's also a sign of what companies are willing to do to make money."
The salmonella scare, however, has buoyed proponents of local, small-scale farming.
"Small farmers have the availability to keep their farms clean, (and) make sure there is enough room. The bigger those operations are the more you run into problems," said National Black Farmers Association president John Boyd.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - – The massive recall in US markets of more than half a billion eggs possibly tainted with salmonella shows the dangers of concentrating the egg industry in just a handful of "mega producers," US food industry critics said.
"Salmonella in eggs was not a problem in the United States until the 1980s when these huge mega producers were born," Fast Food Nation bestseller author Eric Schlosser told CNN.
More than 2,000 people have been infected with salmonella enteriditis bacteria since May, leading to a recent recall of more than half a million fresh eggs, one of the biggest in the industry's history, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.
The recalls concern two chicken egg processors -- Hillandale Farms and Wright County Eggs, both in the midwestern state of Iowa -- and cover several dozen brands across 22 US states, US authorities said.
The source of salmonella in egg-laying chickens could come from contaminated food or fecal matter from infected rodents invading the coops.
Nearly all egg-production in the United States (95 percent) is presently concentrated in the hands of some 200 companies, compared to around 2,500 farms in 1987, according to the United Egg Producers group.
Thirteen companies alone raise more than five million egg-laying chickens each, with five US states accounting for most of the estimated 280 million egg layers in the country: California, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
"There should not be any salmonella in the eggs. Until 20 years ago, there really wasn't any. It's once you've got those mega mega producers putting 150,000 birds in one building that you start to get that kind of diseases," said Schlosser.
"When you cram the birds so closely together it will spread disease from one animal to another," he added.
The salmonella outbreak reached national concern by mid-August, with millions of American wondering if they should now skip their favorite breakfast food.
It brought back the 2009 salmonella outbreak in peanut butter, another favorite US food, which infected thousands of people and killed nine.
Other salmonella recalls in recent years included pistachios, frozen spinach, and milk, feeding criticism that America's food regulation regime is under-staffed and overtaxed.
With the latest salmonella scare, the FDA has renewed its appeals for greater recall and inspection authority. The US Congress has responded by recently passing a law expanding the FDA's recall powers, which up to now were made by companies on a voluntary basis.
The egg recall, said Schlosser, "is partly a breakdown in our regulatory system, but it's also a sign of what companies are willing to do to make money."
The salmonella scare, however, has buoyed proponents of local, small-scale farming.
"Small farmers have the availability to keep their farms clean, (and) make sure there is enough room. The bigger those operations are the more you run into problems," said National Black Farmers Association president John Boyd.
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