Thaindian News

September 15, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): The egg farm of Iowa which was involved in a massive outbreak of Salmonella had in fact, received hundreds of positive results for salmonella even before 1,500 people were reported sick. This was reported by a committee of investigators.

The ‘House Energy and Commerce Committee’ issued a letter to the proprietor of the farm saying that the ‘Wright County Egg’ had received 426 positive cases of salmonella between 2008 and 2010. The company had hastily recalled 380 million eggs after the reports of people falling sick on account of the eggs started surfacing. Another 170 million eggs were retracted by the New Hampshire based Hillandale Farms. The illness reported may have a direct link to the eggs say the Centers for disease control and prevention.

The company further reported 73 of its samples being contaminated by Salmonella Enteritidis which was responsible for the outbreak of the disease.

A show cause letter has now been issued to the owner of ‘Wright County Egg’ by the committee chairman Henry Waxman as well as other investigators forming the subcommittee.

The owner, Austin DeCoster has been asked to testify before a panel next week. A statement from the ‘Wright County Egg’ says that it had already submitted the results of positive testing to the committee as well as the Food and Drugs administration. It added that it will continue to follow the regulations. The statement also said that the voluntary recall of the eggs by the company has been a willingness to address the issue despite its disappointment at finding evidences of Salmonella Enteritidis contamination.

The committee, on the other hand, says that there had been 67 positive results even before the FDA investigations which took place after the recall in August. The letter, however, does not cite the source of the results. The tests seem to have been conducted by the veterinary diagnostic laboratory of the Iowa State University which remained unavailable for comment.