Admin. official: FDA to inspect large egg farms

[mike r]

Source: Associated Press

The Food and Drug Administration is planning to inspect all of the country's largest egg farms before the end of next year following the massive recall of tainted eggs linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened as many as 1,500 people.

An Obama administration official says inspectors will visit about 600 large egg farms that produce 80 percent of the nation's eggs. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not yet been announced. This will be the first government effort to inspect large egg farms, as most of them have gone largely uninspected for decades.

The FDA's plan for heightened inspections came after more than half a billion eggs linked to cases of salmonella poisoning were recalled from two Iowa farms this month. The inspections will be conducted as part of new FDA rules put in place this July to prevent salmonella in shell eggs.

The inspections will begin in September with the farms deemed highest risk to consumer safety, the official said. The new inspection plan covers all egg farms that have 50,000 or more hens.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hOgpXZfEFJ7kkmSW5TIXjlsuUxPQD9HS5EG80

[PSPS]

1. You mean they haven't been inspecting them?

And why must we have only 600 enormous factories supplying 80 percent of all eggs when it would be far safer to distribute that production among thousands of small egg farms scattered across the country? (A rhetorical question in this era of monopoly capitalism. My guess is that these 600 enormous egg factories are owned by a very small number of very rich GOP "contributors.")

[flvegan]

2. Price. Egg profit margins are quite small.

The demand for buck-per-dozen eggs and 69 cent Egg McMuffins mean a tiny profit margin on each egg. To keep that profit, the birds, the environment and those that eat eggs are subject to being of minor concern.

[defendandprotect]

4. Does anyone in government even remember the Sherman-anti-trust laws????

Put in moth balls by Reagan -- !!???

[dflprincess]

6. Yup the Sherman Antitrust Act is still on the books

the Obama administration could dust it off and use it if it wanted to. But that would upset the commentators over at Fox.

[defendandprotect]

10. "But that would upset the commentators over at Fox." ---

Thanks for the funny along with the sad!!

:evilgrin:

[thecrow]

11. Does the FDA have more than six inspectors now?

Remember Smirky cut the FDA down so much that they only had a handful of inspectors around the country.
So many violations, so few inspectors...
Tell me again.... why wasn't the Smirk impeached??

[defendandprotect]

3. RW government permitted destruction of family farmers to deliver corporate factory farming....

from which we are getting disease and filth --

Family farms are gone now -- and we're left with this garbage !!

[aquart]

5. What an original idea! And they just thought of it!

[DCKit]

12. Really. I just pick up my eggs wherever I find them...

no matter how old I think they might be. What's the harm?

[Swede]

7. How large are these eggs?

:shrug:

[FMBM]

8. Eggs, like all fresh produce should be...

purchased from local providers... local providers have local accountability...

[mindwalker_i]

9. Nooooo, it's big (grade AA large) government!!!!!!

Cut their taxes instead :D

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Not enough staff.

FDA does 80% of the food and gets 20% of the budget for it. USDA does 20% of the food and gets 80% of the budget for it. And there have been at least a dozen bills languishing in both houses of Congress for the past decade or more regarding recall authority and maybe one will even make it out of committee... but only to die in place and never get scheduled for a vote on the floor. :eyes: