we have to treat food like toxic waste - food safety expert of the Consumer Federation of America - Salmonella Tainted Eggs After Recall

[Guest guest]

' " You have to treat eggs with the assumption that they're contaminated

with salmonella, " said Carol Tucker Foreman, a food safety expert of the

Consumer Federation of America. " We may all object to the fact that we

have to treat food like toxic waste, but if we don't want to get sick,

and especially if you have someone in your house that's

immune-suppressed, you have to handle things carefully and demand that

the standards be set higher. " '

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*/Growing Concern About Tainted Eggs After Recall/*

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/business/21eggs.html

A national outbreak of salmonella was linked on Friday to another major

egg producer, Hillandale Farms, prompting the recall of an additional

170 million eggs in 14 states.

The latest action --- the third recall announcement in two weeks for

eggs --- is bound to shake the confidence of consumers rattled by a

succession of food safety scares in recent years, most prominently for

foods like beef and lettuce.

The idea that half a billion suspect eggs have been circulating in the

food supply comes as an embarrassment for the egg industry and federal

regulators. New egg safety rules went into effect in July that the Food

and Drug Administration had said would prevent tens of thousands of

salmonella illnesses a year.

" You have to treat eggs with the assumption that they're contaminated

with salmonella, " said Carol Tucker Foreman, a food safety expert of the

Consumer Federation of America. " We may all object to the fact that we

have to treat food like toxic waste, but if we don't want to get sick,

and especially if you have someone in your house that's

immune-suppressed, you have to handle things carefully and demand that

the standards be set higher. "

Hillandale Farms, one of the nation's largest egg companies, said it was

recalling eggs produced at two Iowa sites, in some cases as far back as

April.

It follows an even larger recall by County Egg, also of Iowa,

which recalled 228 million eggs on August 13, and then expanded its

recall by an additional 150 million eggs on Wednesday.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of cases of salmonella since May have been

linked to tainted eggs, according to federal health officials.

Investigators are continuing to look at the clusters of illness to see

whether any other egg producers might be linked to the outbreak.

Investigators are also looking at ties between the two egg farms

operated in Iowa by Hillandale and the five farms run by County

Egg, which is owned by the DeCoster family, a major egg producer.

" Hillandale Farms of Iowa and County Egg Farm share a number of

common suppliers because they are in the same industry in the same

state, " Hillandale said in a statement late Friday. The company said

that it bought young birds, called pullets, and feed from a company run

by the DeCosters.

F.D.A. officials said the chicks used by both farms came from a hatchery

that participated in a national program meant to ensure that its chicks

were free of salmonella infection.

Chickens can get salmonella from rodents in hen houses, from

contaminated feed or from workers who may not follow sanitary

procedures. Infected hens can lay eggs with the bacteria inside them,

and people can become sick if they eat tainted eggs that are not fully

cooked.

Health experts say that people should make sure that they cook eggs

fully to destroy any possible bacteria and wash their hands and utensils

after handling raw eggs.

Salmonella commonly results in diarrhea, vomiting and stomach cramps. In

rare cases, it can lead to more serious conditions, like arterial

infections.

Even though the recall numbers are large, they represent a small

fraction of national egg production. The recalled eggs have also been

produced over several months, meaning that most have long since been

cooked and eaten.

The recalls at both companies stem from a single large outbreak of

salmonella.

Sherri McGarry, a director at the F.D.A.'s Center for Food Safety and

Applied Nutrition, said federal and state officials were working hard

" to get contaminated product off the market so consumers are protected

and public health is protected. "

She said the Hillandale recall was prompted when Minnesota officials

traced a cluster of illnesses in that state to the eggs from the

company's Iowa plants.

Doug Schultz, a spokesman for the Minnesota health department, said

seven people had become ill with salmonella in mid-May after eating

chile rellenos at a Mexican restaurant called Mi Rancho in Bemidji,

Minn. He said that investigators established a connection to Hillandale

eggs on May 24.

It was not clear why the F.D.A. did not act on the information sooner.

The County eggs have been distributed nationwide. The Hillandale

eggs went to 14 states, according to the company: Arkansas, California,

Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North

Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. They were sold under

the brand names Hillandale Farms, Sunny Farms, Sunny Meadow, Wholesome

Farms and Werst Creek.

Hillandale also operates plants outside Iowa, but those plants were not

included in the recall. One complication for consumers is that some of

the County firm's eggs were sold in cartons bearing the

Hillandale name.

The outbreak and the recalls, both by far the biggest in years, have

stunned the egg industry. " Now, all of a sudden, we've got this big one

going on, " said Magwire, vice president of United Egg Producers,

an industry organization. " Something happened here that shouldn't have

happened. "

Darrell Trampel, a poultry veterinarian at Iowa State University, said

that the problem should not be viewed as something unique to Iowa.

" The production methods for large commercial egg operations are very,

very similar all across the United States, " he said. " It's just that

Iowa is the biggest egg-producing state in the nation by a large margin.

The probability of things happening here is greater because we have more

chickens. "

In a separate notice Friday, the Food and Drug Administration issued an

urgent recall of a type of frozen fruit pulp sold under the La Nuestra

and Goya brands.

The pulp, made of the tropical fruit mamey and originating in Guatemala,

has been linked to an outbreak of typhoid fever that has sickened nine

people in California and Nevada, according to the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

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