Nov. 9, 2010 /EIN Presswire/ – There’s a fresh new recall of potentially bad eggs.
The eggs come from Ohio Fresh Eggs, a company financially backed by Austin DeCoster, owner of one of the two Iowa egg farms blamed for 1,600 salmonella illnesses earlier this year. So far no illnesses have been attributed to the latest egg recall.
Cal-Maine Foods, the nation’s biggest egg seller and distributor, has recalled 288,000 eggs purchased from Ohio Fresh Eggs after tests showed salmonella. The eggs were distributed in Arkansas, California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.
Modern egg farming techniques augment salmonella transfer to eggs by practicing techniques which result in massive egg production in extremely poor sanitary conditions for the hens. Once a “farm factory” is contaminated, most of the hens and many of their eggs become contaminated.
The FDA and FBI are looking into this ongoing egg recall to help determine if some producers have been negligent, especially in the housing methods used for poultry.
The eggs went out to wholesalers and grocery stores under the brand names Sunny Meadow, Springfield Grocer, Sun Valley and James Farm.
Although the eggs were bought in mid-October, Cal-Maine didn’t learn of the salmonella contamination until late last week. The eggs have sell-by dates of November 7th and November 9th. The Sun Valley brand has a sell-by date of November 24th.
In December 2006, the Ohio Department of Agriculture ordered Ohio Fresh Eggs to shut down on grounds that its operators, Bethel and Don Hershey, neglected to report that an anonymous investor with an option to purchase the company was DeCoster, who had already been labeled as a chronic and habitual violator of environmental laws in Iowa.
DeCoster’s name did not appear on the documents, according to Ohio authorities, because his previous run-ins with state and federal regulators would have made it more difficult for the company to operate in Ohio under a state Livestock Environmental Permitting Program.
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