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18 Nov 2011 15:29

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Biz: McDonald’s drops egg supplier after gruesome video release

  • This is a warning that there is a systemic problem, not just at one barn or one location.
  • Former FDA food safety chief David Acheson • Discussing the situation at Sparboe Farms, the main producer of McDonald’s eggs — well, until now. See, thanks in large part to an undercover video shot by animal rights organization Mercy for Animals (which will air on ABC News’ “20/20” and “World News Tonight” Friday night), the company dropped the egg supplier. According to the company, “the behavior on tape is disturbing and completely unacceptable.” If you have the stomach for it, you can see the video over here, but it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s as bad as you’d expect, considering the buildup. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Sep 2010 10:20

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U.S.: Wright County Egg Founder sorry his eggs made you sick

  • We were horrified to learn that our eggs may have made people sick. We apologize to everyone who may have been sickened by eating our eggs.
  • Wright County Egg founder Austin DeCoster • In prepared remarks for Congress, where he’ll speak today to explain how his company is responsible for so many salmonella-tainted eggs. His company’s barns were infested with all sorts of disgusting things that we won’t repeat here so as not to turn you off of eggs entirely. Partly because of this, there were traces of salmonella in the barns years before there was actually an outbreak. Also, there was another outbreak due to the same company way back in the late ’80s. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Sep 2010 11:10

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Biz: That Iowa egg farm knew it had prior salmonella issues

  • 426 salmonella detections in less than two years source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Aug 2010 12:49

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U.S.: Piles of manure taller than people found at salmonella-infested farm

  • The decrepit conditions in these henhouses reflect the fact that companies know that FDA inspections are so rare … that there is no urgency to fix their buildings and their operations.
  • The Center for Science in the Public Interest • In response to an FDA report on the Iowa chicken farms at the source of the recent salmonella outbreak. FDA investigators found, amongst other things, eight-foot high piles of chicken manure, some of which was forcing doors open and allowing rodents to enter. An estimated 1,470 people have been sickened so far. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Aug 2010 10:35

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U.S.: Egg recall expands again: You jerks buying cage-free organic yet?

  • 2 new store brands have been added to the recall list source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Aug 2010 21:30

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U.S.: Why did the U.S. decide not to vaccinate hens from salmonella?

  • The U.S. chose not to force hens to get vaccinated for Salmonella. They claimed there wasn’t enough evidence that it did anything. (And it wouldn’t raise costs much; it’d cost less than a penny per dozen eggs.) With the very large egg-tainting problem in the U.S., it’s probably good to look at what happened after Britain mandated hen vaccinations:
  • 14,771the number of cases in England and Wales caused by the most common strain of salmonella in 1997, the year a new hen vaccine was tested by the country’s farmers
  • 581the number of cases in England and Wales last year, a decrease of 96 percent; the hen vaccine, which has been in use since 1998, has helped lead to yearly declines source
  • » So why didn’t they? Well, the FDA, while it claims that it looked at the vaccine seriously, said that there were significant differences between the U.S. version of the vaccine and the British one. The vaccine-maker, however, says that the differences were minor and the drugs were equally effective. Meanwhile, the current recall is at around 550 million eggs.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Aug 2010 18:11

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U.S.: A second Iowa egg supplier nailed in salmonella outbreak

  • 170 million more eggs, this time from Hillandale Farms source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

20 Aug 2010 11:01

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U.S.: Egg-beaters: Salmonella cases way up since egg outbreak started

  • 1,953 cases of egged-on salmonella from May to July
  • 700 the normal number of cases during a period like that source
  • » Also good to note: It sounds like a lot of eggs, but based on the 6.5 billion eggs delivered in April, if similar amounts were shipped between May and right now, that 380 million would account for around 1.6 percent of the total shipments in the last three and a half months. It’s bad, but much less bad than one would think.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Aug 2010 21:35

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U.S.: That Iowa egg company behind the salmonella outbreak is bad news

  • 380 million tainted eggs is a huge problem for Wright County Egg. But by no means is it the first huge problem the firm has faced. In fact, the DeCoster family, which owns Wright County Egg as part of their larger farming conglomerate, has had a number of legal problems in recent years, including these gems on their permanent record:
  • $2.1Mthe amount founder Austin Jackson DeCoster paid in penalties for immigration violations in 2003
  • $1.5M the amount the company was nicked for sexual harassment allegations (including rape!) by the EEOC back in 2002
  • yes the company has also had to pay fines for animal cruelty at another egg operation in Maine – just this year source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Aug 2010 23:58

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U.S.: Scariest number of the night: Hint, it involves a ton of eggs

  • 380 million freaking eggs recalled over salmonella fears source
  • » And for the math-adverse: That breaks down to 31.6 million cartons, cartons that include these brands: Albertsons, Farm Fresh, James Farms, Glenview, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma, Lund, Kemps, Pacific Coast, Lucerne, Mountain Dairy, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Lund and Dutch Farms. Now is not the time to start your Atkins diet.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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