R i g h t a r d i a: The incredible inedible DeCoster egg

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The incredible inedible DeCoster egg

You won't hear the GOP say a word about a scandal like this. This is what deregulation leads to.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce is investigating three egg producers in Maine with ties to Austin "Jack" DeCoster, whose Iowa-based farm was linked to the recent US egg recall, reports Boston.com Thursday.

The Committee has asked DeCoster to hand in inspection documents linked to egg contamination from Dorothy Egg Farms, Mountain Hollow Farms and Quality Egg of New England; the three farms distribute about 100 million cartons of eggs yearly to Maine's grocery stores.

The companies appear to be linked to DeCoster, but we don't know what role, if any, they played in the recall, said Committee spokeswoman Karen Lightfoot.

Two Iowa farms issued recalls after over 1,500 people in the US were sickened by alleged salmonella contaminated eggs.

The head of the Food and Drug Administration said the DeCoster farms in Iowa were not operating safely before a salmonella outbreak. this outbreak led to the recall of more than half a billion eggs.

There’s no question that these farms that are involved in the recall were not operating with the standards of practice that we consider responsible,” FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told CNN Sunday night.