Unbelievably Gross

Posted By elissa on Sep 1, 2010 | 2 comments

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been keeping tabs on the news about the recent egg recall.  While the initial reports noted previous sanitation and safety violations at the implicated farms, these pale beside the latest findings.  According to CNN, FDA inspectors found…

Rodents, piles of manure, uncaged birds and flies too numerous to count were found by investigators at Iowa farms at the heart of the recall of more than half a billion eggs, the Food and Drug Administration reported Monday.

Inspection reports released by the FDA noted numerous violations at six farms operated by Wright County Egg and Quality Egg, which are owned by the same family, and three Hillandale Farms locations.

…At some Wright County Egg facilities, federal inspectors found chicken manure in piles up to eight feet high. In other spots, mounds of manure prevented doors from closing, allowing rodents and other animals to possibly come inside, FDA inspectors said. “The uncaged birds were using the manure [pile] … to access the egg-laying area.”

The report said Quality Egg and Wright County Egg workers did not always wear protective clothing, that birds were in storage and milling facilities, and feed bins had rusted holes and gaps. Inspectors also found maggots, and in some areas, “live and dead flies were too numerous to count.”

Inspections at three Hillandale farms found — among other things — rodents and rodent holes, liquid manure leaking into a chicken house and uncaged chickens tracking manure from a manure pit into a caged henhouse, the inspectors said.

This is unbelievably gross. Spokespeople for both Hillandale and Wright County Egg claim the companies are working on bringing their facilities into compliance with the regs… but IMHO, this sort of overt negligence should be sufficient cause for both to be put out of business – permanently. Owners and managers with this much disregard for basic standards should not be given second chances to sicken people.