qudicps; WOW, if your facts are correct, I have no reason to believe they are not; then all the agencies of state and federal government that brought these charges and did not follow Thur, just let his company's pay a fine are just plain dumb, corrupt, and useless !

Saxon -

1. Don't trust me, Google some of the following:

DeCoster, Egg Farm, Turner, Maine, Iowa, Wright County Egg, Lewiston Sun-Journal,

Portland Press-Herald, Animal Abuse, Settlement , etc.

2. Connect the dots...

Oh, yes, hold the mayo (made with raw eggs).

qudrcps - Your rant is off target. There is no indication that the company you are railing against has anything to do with this recall whatsoever. You obviously have a bone to pick with this company and are using this forum to spew your attack. If you have something to add relative to the company involved in this recall great, otherwise take your hatred of this other company elsewhere and tell it to someone who cares.

I'd bet that a little research would turn up the truth - GW Bush is behind it and Dick Cheney is purposely leaving the good eggs in the nest. It'll take us years to recover.

oldgirl skip the lo-carb(fake diet and possibly harmful) and just get a bicycle,or try walking.diets don't work and can be dangerous, exercise and smaller portions are the only safe way to lose weight.

tomtom~ Not everyone is made from the same mold........... Just be thankful you don't have a weight problem and leave the diet advice to the medical experts.

Cutlass, Maybe they should make the farmers supply such facilitys to their feild hands in the better heath interest of all involved.

Your rant is off target. There is no indication that the company you are railing against has anything to do with this recall whatsoever.

Not so if you think about it. Once a company moves into an area and starts cutting corners they usually contaminate not only the products they sell but lower the quality of products other produce in order to compete with them . Just knowing a short cutter is operating in an area sometimes lose business for all that produce what they are producing. While it does not say this company is owned by the person mentioned it also does not say it isn't.

First pirating off the coast of Africa, now this! We need to get the UN involved!

salmonella does not come from the workers, people. It comes from sick chickens.

JD in SD.... Google DeCoster and Wright County Egg... The first link will be a pdf stating "Peter DeCoster, son of Jack DeCoster, owns DeCoster Farms of Iowa which runs Wright County Egg". Assuming that's true, then qudrcps's comment is actually not off-base, but rather spot-on. It seems that father and son share the same practices. Actually, if you Google those you'll also get a whole history of poor practices (e.g. illegal immigrants).

LPJ Don't say that. How will we blame the illegals. They are the reason for all are ill's ( everything wrong in this country). Now they're peeing on our food.

So many issues for one topic... Get rid of all the illegals working in the farms, whether they spread salmonella or not. They actually do by virtue of unsanitary practices. For example, if their housing was substandard that is one thing, but if they are living in "filthy conditions" then that is their fault. One does not have to be rich to be clean. I am glad to see he had to pay so much for hiring illegals but not for treating them like illegals.

South Beach Diet is an awesome low carb diet. Telling someone it is useless is ignorant. As long as you drink plenty of water to keep your kidneys flushed high protein and vegetable diets are very good. I'm no doctor but I have experienced the benefits of a low carb diet.

qudrcps, with all the information you gave and some of it is quite helpful, was your actual hatred against the situation, the company or is it under the radar for "free the chickens?" I believe the dead give away was the report from the "PETA" like animal rights group.

Salmonella is a naturally occurring disease in chickens like e-coli in the stomach of cows, syphilis in sheep and gonorrhea in dogs. Like e-coli the problem comes from poor processing practices. Ironically the USDA knows why meat gets e-coli or chickens get salmonella contamination but they have been paid good money to change the rules that protect us. Where in the past, during processing, meat that was touched by the gut contents had to be cut out and thrown away now it can be washed off (as if not seeing it will cure it) and moved on. The processors complained (with cash in hand) that it took too long to work at a pace that allowed for proper processing and it slowed things down when a contaminated animal had to be properly handled after being contaminated. That is some companies have gone to irradiation.

I used to be the sanitation manager at a meat plant. I used to have to stand there and tell my employees (the processors & mostly Mexicans) to wash their hands when they came out of the bathroom or after smoking. One day they complained to the owner that I was treating them like children. He told me to stop it. I explained to him the problem. He told me if they got offended they would leave, then we would have no employees. I told him if things went back to how they were before I got there we would have no business. In the Wright County case, this is probably how the salmonella spread over the eggs. Do you notice it is just the shell on eggs that are contaminated? The insides were not contaminated so it had to be in the collection or packaging. Four months after I left, the company lost their major customer (a national food chain) due to cleanliness issues and were delegated to processing deer and elk, having to fire almost all their employees. I also wasn't allowed to fire illegals even though they were being paid a salary any American would have been glad to work for. There is more to the story but that is for another day.

You are better off buying as many of your agricultural products (eggs, vegetables, chickens, even pork, beef, etc.) from local farmers and having what needs to be processed locally. The big guys are either to out of touch based on greed or are supplemented by the Federal government and don't need to worry about meeting all of our needs. Visit a farm after you look online and make sure they do not receive government subsidies. Common sense will tell you if they are worthy of your business and can be trusted to sell you clean, disease-free products. You will know when you visit if it is clean or not.

JD in SD -

I personally have no bone to pick with DeCoster. I do, however, know better than to buy their eggs.

Since the 1990's DeCoster has created multiple "shell" companies both in Maine and elsewhere, making it that much harder to regulate them.

Your rant is off target. There is no indication that the company you are railing against has anything to do with this recall whatsoever. You obviously have a bone to pick with this company and are using this forum to spew your attack. If you have something to add relative to the company involved in this recall great, otherwise take your hatred of this other company elsewhere and tell it to someone who cares.

If you did a little research, you would find that Wright County Egg Farm is part of the DeCoster conglomerate. So qudrcps' "rant" was perfectly valid in relation to the recall.

@cutlass -- You're trying to blame this on illegal aliens? Really? Salmonella doesn't come from urine, you blithering idiot. Nice try. NOT.

Fred4Congress

Interesting to hear from an insider, and I'm glad you stick to your guns on what is right. It seems that what you describe is a big part of the problem. The plant managers may be the ones hiring illegal immigrants and allowing unsanitary practices, but its likely the owner's attitude that is the real cause. A plant manager who refuses will just get fired and someone with fewer scruples will be hired instead.

This doesn't excuse the plant managers, but they may face personal fines and jail time, while the owner who is as culpable if not moreso, is typically too removed from the situation to face criminal charges.

Fines will be levied against the business for violations of course, but DeCoster and his ilk must be coming out ahead (net of fines) or they wouldn't still be doing it. Rules without sufficient penalties and enforcement are as bad as no rules at all.

Ok, so what I don't get is how come restaurants were still serving eggs this morning? And how come local health officials are allowing them to?

The only way that eggs are reasonably safe are if they are hard-boiled or well-scrambled. If you choose soft-boiled or fried eggs, you're asking for trouble.

This applies to ground beef and ground poultry (chicken or turkey) as well. Medium-rare or less cooked increase your risks of food poisoning. I love medium rare burgers, but no more!

And, we really can no longer trust anything that the AMA, FDA, or Surgeon General tell us about what is good or bad for us. We must do our own research and use many reliable Internet sources to determine a balance. All too often, the medical profession and government change their "advisories" well after they've contributed to our "listening" to them.

Do your homework ..... everything in moderation!

This is why I don't eat eggs unless they're marked "organic" any more. Never had a problem with eggs when we were kids, but my folks raised 150 chickens every year, because my dad made a low salary as a university professor, and we lived on a farm. We kept the hen house clean and picked up the eggs every day. Never once got sick from the chickens or the eggs. Salmonella contamination comes from fecal matter. The bacteria migrate through the eggshell.

Scary story. The hens that don't meet the egg quota end up in the slaughterhouse, where there is more contamination. When the chickens are butchered, the guts are thrown into a waster receptacle, but there is NOTHING to say that the intestines aren't pierced during the gutting process, releasing fecal matter. Ditto beef and hog slaughterhouses. Maybe this is a sign of things to come. (Cue the "Twilight Zone" theme music.)

I am a retired USDA Meat Inspector.The line is stopped in beef plants if any intestines are pierced.The animal is either cleaned to our specifications or railed out before the line is allowed to run again.If it fails reinspection it is railed out and a veterinarian makes the final decision.More trimming or it is condemned.USDA Inspectors are looking for disease and contamination .That is our job,we don't work for the company.We work to keep products clean and safe.And with cattle ,each and every one is tagged and can be traced to their places of origin in case some disease is found.

Give it a rest people. Salmonella is everywhere and in most of the foods we consume. Some strains are more agressive and survivable than others. Why don't we simply demand everyone no longer go to work, so we will no longer have traffic jams because they cause headaches and stress? ...

Salmonella ... an upset stomach ... in light of what is coming, one would think they could overlook a simple intestinal parasite. Let's deal with things that have real life altering consequences for you and your children ... i.e. Obama and the current state of federal government and America's demise.

Right like someone would've said the demise of the country was Regan, Nixon, in their own period of time. That's not all that new.

However knowing what you're eating is also a good thing to. For all anyone knows their next meal could have worms in it and stuff..strange things happen ya know. Ever read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair by any chance? (Pssst the last pages of that novel are just a typical rant)

YOUR EGGS CAME FROM WHERE???

The USDA will tell you...

http://apps.ams.usda.gov/plantbook/Query_Pages/PlantBook_Query.asp

Check the "Shell Egg" box.

(and yes, "The Jungle" was one of the reasons the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed in 1906 due to public outrage over Chicago meat packers during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt)

qudrcps, your rant against DeCoster not only has nothing to do with this story, it has nothing to so with anything.

Rick-881466 -

My "rant" as you and JD in SD have put it, consisted of one line...

Once again, Maine's most infamous "egg-baron", Jack DeCoster, strikes again - this time after he exported the same things that made him infamous in Maine to Iowa.

The rest is a timeline that many of us think led to this event as the almost inevitable result of bad animal husbandry, documented over the years. I have no doubt that some will criticize the sources as "animal activist" and "liberal press" (NPR), but that doesn't change the legal public record, and these people took the time to organize this as a timeline.

www.mercyforanimals.org/maine-eggs/decosterhistory.pdf

www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3478/ItemId/12483/Default.aspx

Furthermore, I do buy eggs - I just am a little more "informed" than some. There are commercial farms that see things differently, and they do make money. Locally, here is one such producer/marketer (and I am not an employee or "shill" for them). Clearly there are others...

radlo.com/Maine%20Sunday%20Telegram%20PDF%204-9-06.pdf

Eating raw or undercooked eggs is just like eating raw or undercooked chicken. You've been told your whole life not to do it, because you could get salmonella. Everyone knows this. So, if you get sick from eating such things, it's not the egg producers' fault. It's either your fault or that of the person who prepared the food that contained the offending raw or undercooked egg.

There is absolutely no reason an egg recall should be taking place, since all eggs have some kind of funk on their shells. That's like bitching about getting trichinosis from eating undercooked pork. Honey, everyone knows you don't do that, so why complain about it when you do it and get sick? Americans are some of the dumbest people on Earth, really.

LJ -

You may want to reconsider your comment about trichinosis and pork (and undercooked wild game). Yul Brynner contracted trichinosis in the 1970's.

Trichinosis has all but been eliminated from commercial pork by steaming garbage fed to them (e.g. infected raw meat), rodent control, and gastropod (snails, slugs) control, all of which are intermediate hosts for trichinella spiralis. You can thank USDA/FDA research, regulation and inspection for making this happen.

Americans are not really dumb, but at times incredibly under-informed (a lot of competition for brain cells with American Idol and Survivor...)

The folks doing this recall know perfectly well that their eggs are like everyone else's. It's only due to pressure by the American public (the USDA and FDA try to coddle the masses, rather than telling them how stupid they're being, and actually encourage companies to recall these things when there's really no need to) that they're recalling them. The American public will then think, "Ah! We're safe again! All those tainted eggs are gone!" Yet, the next brand over in the grocery store will have all the same germs on their shells, and people will continue to get sick from being stupid about how to handle and/or prepare eggs to be safe for eating.

Eggs come out of chickens' asses...the same holes from which they poop and pee. How can anyone think they're clean and safe enough to eat raw and/or undercooked? Again, there's no need for this recall. Eggs are eggs. Unless they're downright rotten (which these aren't), they're just as safe as any other eggs on the market. Rather than recall them at great expense, that company needs to admonish the public not to be so stupid when it comes to eating them.

Why do we not call out the public more often for being ignorant or downright idiotic?

Me, too. I was sick as a dog for three days starting Sunday a week ago. I, too, thought it was a nasty stomach virus. Went and looked in the fridge and sure enough the egg carton said Hillandale Farms. Husband picked them up at WaWa - not the brand I ever use - they were picked up on the fly..........never again!!

Sheesh - I was really sick.

qudicps; his comments regarding Costner enterprises ; I took his advice and checked it out on line; he is correct, the company's practices are shocking, many, many, many fines and violations; almost their entire work force, at the ground level, are illegal aliens !

Saxon -

Regarding the now-collapsed 1.1

You get, and now the press in Iowa does too...

www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100819/BUSINESS01/8190345/1001/NEWS/Troubles-mount-for-Iowa-firm-as-egg-recall-expands

This post was collapsed by a concerted effort of industry representatives - it is accurate and true, and I am going to repost it even though I am not related in any way to the original poster. Newsvine can be manipulated by unscrupulous industry whores.

Once again, Maine's most infamous "egg-baron", Jack DeCoster, strikes again - this time after he exported the same things that made him infamous in Maine to Iowa.

DeCoster Animal Factories:
Decades of Endangering Workers and the Environment

Austin “Jack” DeCoster has owned and operated intensive, industrial-scale animal confinement plants in the U.S. since the early 1960s. Doing business under various company names, such as Quality Egg of New England, LLC, DeCoster Farms, and Maine Contract Farming, LLC, DeCoster has become the largest producer of eggs in New England, and a major player in the Iowa pig farm belt. DeCoster egg operations also figure prominently in the Midwest, with multiple facilities in Iowa, Ohio, and Maine.
DeCoster Farms entered the ranks of the nation’s most notorious polluters of land and water in the 1990s, after constructing several huge pig feeding operations in Iowa that stretched surrounding communities’ abilities to deal with the resulting waste well beyond their limits. DeCoster’s record of environmental devastation has been matched by a long record of violations against the most basic rights of workers. Over the years, DeCoster businesses have been the target of investigations and penalty proceedings by a wide range of state and federal agencies, among them the federal Occupational Safety and Health Commission (OSHA), the U.S. Immigration and Customs Administration, the Maine Human Rights Commission, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Examples of DeCoster’s many brushes with the law follow:

• Prior to 1993: Even before he built his first large-scale Iowa pig farming operation, Austin J. “Jack” DeCoster had already drawn the serious attention of environmental and labor law enforcement authorities. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection had brought a 14-count action against him for activities that were polluting both air and water. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had investigated DeCoster in connection with farm workers’ reports that they had been exposed to lethal asbestos in DeCoster chicken houses. There had also been a federal suit brought against DeCoster under the Migrant Agricultural Workers Protection Act, based on workers’ reports of unfit housing, and of illegal threats and harassment ongoing at DeCoster plants.

• July, 1996: DeCoster was fined over $3.6 million by OSHA for mistreatment of workers at his Maine egg farms. At these facilities, federal investigators found that workers had been forced to handle manure and dead chickens with unprotected, bare hands, and that the trailers serving as worker housing were filthy and infested. Then-Labor Secretary Robert Reich described the conditions at the Maine DeCoster egg operations as “among the worst” found in the U.S.

• June, 2000: DeCoster was named Iowa’s first “habitual violator” of state environmental laws, after losing a succession of enforcement cases brought against him by the Iowa Attorney General. At the time, DeCoster Farms’ pig-feeding business confined hundreds of thousands of pigs, and was generating more manure than it could contain in its underground pits. When the company simply spread its excess manure across open land, and transported huge volumes of it along open county roads, manure flowed into public waterways, causing hazardous pollution. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources ordered DeCoster immediately to construct concrete manure-storage structures, and assessed him a $150,000 civil penalty. DeCoster’s “habitual violator” status raised applicable penalties for noncompliance from $5,000 to $25,000 per day, and barred DeCoster from constructing any new confinement feeding operations.

• June, 2002: OSHA imposed a fine of $345,810 on Maine Contract Farming LLC (a DeCoster business successor) and several other related entities in Turner, Maine, based on findings that they had refused to remedy hazardous conditions that were continually placing workers in danger. At the time of this OSHA action, the egg farm already had a documented history of roof collapses. Violations listed in the June 2002 OSHA order included exposed asbestos, defective eyewash stations, hazardous electrical equipment, uninspected fire extinguishers, unsanitary shower facilities, and fall hazards. Commenting on the OSHA penalty, an Auburn, Maine lawyer who had represented 80 workers in a pay-violation case against DeCoster told press that Maine Contract Farming and its associates were “still DeCoster Egg Farm,” and “still operated by Austin DeCoster.”

• July, 2002: DeCoster Egg Farms of Maine agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought against it by Mexican workers who suffered deplorable working conditions while working at the Farms. The workers asserted that DeCoster Egg Farms had exploited their vulnerable immigration status in order to avoid obligations to comply with labor laws. The plight of the workers was so substantial that the Mexican government joined in the case, and made the case a cause celebre.

• 2001 – 2003: In 2001, the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV) filed a federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint against DeCoster Farms in Wright County, Iowa, on behalf of female workers who reported that they had been sexually assaulted and raped by supervisors at DeCoster Farms. EEOC reviewed the complaint, and sought an injunction against DeCoster. This resulted in an order requiring DeCoster Farms to enforce federal anti-harassment and non-retaliation policies at its facility, and to cooperate with EEOC’s ongoing investigation into the facts underlying the workers’ complaint. EEOC ultimately ruled for the workers, but DeCoster would not cooperate towards a settlement payment. EEOC therefore commenced a formal proceeding against DeCoster, which ended in 2003, when DeCoster agreed to pay $1.3 million in damages to 11 workers, $100,000 to ICADV, and $125,000 to any additional victims who might be identified within a year of the settlement decree.

• August, 2003: A. J. DeCoster pleaded guilty to federal charges that he had knowingly and repeatedly hired illegal immigrants at his Northern Iowa egg plants. The charges resembled others that DeCoster had faced and settled in 1989, for his illegal hiring practices at Maine-based egg operations. Under the terms of the Iowa plea agreement, DeCoster paid the federal government $1.25 million, and another $875,000 in restitution, to cover some of the government’s enforcement and monitoring costs at his plants. DeCoster was also required to pay for unannounced facility and record inspections at his plants, for five years following the date of his plea.

• June, 2006: During the third immigration raid of DeCoster egg operations in Iowa since 2001, law enforcement officials confirmed that DeCoster was still engaging in illegal hiring practices at his six Iowa egg facilities. Thirty-six workers were detained in the course of this enforcement operation.

• May, 2007: Former DeCoster manager Cacy Cantwell was granted a hearing before the Maine Human Rights Commission on his complaint that DeCoster had fired him and stripped him of company housing on the sole grounds that Cantwell is an atheist. A Commission investigator who reviewed the evidence found a reasonable basis for Cantwell’s assertion of religious discrimination. Cantwell supplemented his Human Rights Commission complaint with a separate filing against DeCoster at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

• September, 2007: Federal immigration investigators raided the same six DeCoster egg farms in Iowa that had been raided by officials in June, 2006. Children were among the 51 illegally hired workers found on the premises, this time.

• August, 2008: OSHA cited DeCoster surrogate Maine Contract Farming for willful violations of worker safety laws, based on findings that during the prior Winter, the company had forced workers to salvage eggs from inside a dangerously unstable structure that had collapsed from the weight of ice and snow. OSHA called this company misconduct “astonishing” and “unacceptable.” For actions that exposed workers in other buildings to additional collapse hazards, and which allowed workers to operate powered industrial trucks in a way that exposed them to the risk of crush injuries, OSHA issued the egg operation two additional citations for hazards that OSHA classified as likely to result in death or serious injury to workers.

• June, 2010: Former DeCoster Egg Farm Agrees to Settle Animal Cruelty Case

Animal rights activists say it is the largest penalty in a farm animal abuse case in this country. Jack DeCoster, the owner of Maine Contract Farming LLC, formerly known as the DeCoster Egg Farm, in Turner has agreed to pay more than $130,000 in fines to settle a case involving ten counts of animal cruelty. The case was first brought to light by an undercover investigator from the Ohio-based group Mercy for Animals.

For two months last year, the undercover investigator from Mercy for Animals worked sided by side with other egg farm employees and documented what he saw with a hidden camera. And when the video was turned over to investigators with Maine's Animal Welfare Board, even they were shocked to see birds crammed into cages with inadequate food and water; birds left untreated for injuries and illnesses and live birds swung by the neck and thrown in the trash.

"That was, I mean, incredible video. I think it basically portrayed what we found the day of the search warrant," says Dr. Christine Fraser, a state veterinarian who worked on the case. "It was inexcusable. It wasn't just one bad day at the chicken farm. It was a chronic problem and it had just been allowed to slide to the point that it got to cruelty."

In fact, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Robinson cited Maine Contract Farming with ten civil counts of animal cruelty for depriving hens of necessary sustenance and proper shelter. The farm agreed to pay $2,500 dollars in fines for each count; to reimburse the Animal Welfare Board more than $9,000 for the cost of its investigation; and to make a one-time payment of $100,000 to the Maine Department of Agriculture for ongoing monitoring of hen treatment at its facilities as well as those of other egg farms around the state.

Nathan Runkle, executive director of Mercy For Animals, says he hopes the landmark settlement will send a strong message to egg producers across the nation that animal abuse will not be tolerated.

"Our organization has conducted a number of investigations at battery caged egg facilities across the nation from coast to coast, and unfortunately what we have found is that animal abuse runs rampant in egg farms nationwide, and this settlement really lends credibility to the fact that animals are abused in cage egg production," Runkle says. "We hope that consumers will take notice and know that they can use their purchasing dollars to help boycott animal abuse by not buying eggs from facilities that mistreat their hens."

After Mercy For Animals released the results of its investigation and contacted the state Animal Welfare Board in February of last year, several supermarket chains announced they would no longer sell eggs associated with the former DeCoster Egg Farm, one of largest egg farms in the country.

For its part, the farm released a statement saying the charges stemmed from "an isolated incident of bird mistreatment" -- ten hens out of the farm's flock of five million birds. Jack DeCoster is quoted as saying the farm's commitment to the care of its birds has never been a greater priority.

Reached by telephone, farm spokeswoman Hinda Mitchell says corrective measures have been in place for several months. "The Department of Agriculture has been having unannounced, random inspections of the farm, and they've been closely monitoring bird health and care and we've been working very closely with them. We also brought in our own independent avian veterinarian, who is a national expert in hen well-being, Dr. Charles Hofacre of the University of Georgia, and he comes in regularly, reviews the flock, monitors animal care records and things like that."

As part of the settlement, Maine Contract Farming will provide training to farm workers twice a year about the care and treatment of farm animals. The district attorney's office also has the option of bringing criminal charges if any of the terms of settlement are violated over the next five years.

In the meantime, Nathan Runkle of Mercy for Animals say the case illustrates the need for undercover investigations, "because the government, in most cases is not regulating, not oversight of these facilities, so that's why it's important for watchdog organizations like Mercy for Animals to conduct these investigations."

Since 2009 Mercy For Animals has undertaken five additional undercover investigations, including one at an Ohio dairy farm where an investigation is still underway, and where one farmworker has been charged with 12 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty.

Runkle says the charges and penalties in these cases are part of a new trend in the country that reflects the public's concern for the humane treatment of all animals, not just family pets.

From what I see in all the bulletin boards, I would have imagined that only China is guilty of toxic foods and products. Wow what a relief that even the super clean USA is not immune to producing toxic food products that can make people sick, can even kill them. Welcome to the real world.

Really? your going to turn this into an illegal immigrant thread over a salmonella article? Where were all you tea bagging hate and fear mongers when the largest outbreak of salmonella hit the Us from bad ice cream. Wonder how many of you who just discovered how to use a home computer will google that one since it seams you only repeat the moronic views and lunatic rants from Faux Snooze and Rush Limpsock.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8609944

Try watching the movie Food inc. instead, but watch out you might learn something.

Oh and another thing see if you can get your hands on the documentary called Gas Land and just see how Cheney and Bush ruined the drinking water for many without care and oh big hint Cheney was Ceo of the company that did this just befor he was elected. So go fish elsewhere your comments are pointless and you as clueless as newborn trying to learn Binary Math.

Oh here you go another link.Do your homework and stop the fear mongering rants and look at your own parties real agenda at hand and gee maybe open your mind just a tiny bit.

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/oct2004/nf20041026_2453_db038.htm

it's obvious the usda doesn't know what the source of the contamination is.

should implement the a consistent govt approach to everything.

we need a 6 month moratorium on egg production and sales until we can make sure this never happens again.

why isn't obama on anyone's throat yet. pitiful response.

GordyinIowa found out the salmonella culprits are the illegal immigrants, great, so now we have another magic bullet in our arsenal against criminal illegals. Really smart people in Iowa, no wonder they get the immigrants that work in chicken farms, while other states get the ones that work in IT.

I have to admit it. Long time ago, the egg used to be pretty safe to eat and sterile. Having salmonella inside the egg was unheard of back then. Thanks to horrible living conditions and walmart like mass production of eggs by very sick hens........ hats off to the industry. Salmonella inside the egg. Very impressive. I guess its no longer safe to each raw eh?

God damn it. When is the media going to stop this stupid craps that scares hell out of the public unnecessary. After all…the eggs are from chicken’s ass…what do you expect? No germs from chicken’s ass ??? That’s not going to be true unless your ass is germ free…and if u think that is. You failed middle school biology class my friend.

NEXT TIME. Fully cook your food and you’ll be fine. 99.999% of bacteria die after they reach 75 degree C. (about 165 degree F) and if you cook your food the Chinese style (with big flame going at close to 200 degree C (about 400 degree F) nobody would get sick. You may get some minor diarrhea. That’s it…. the only time I get sick is when I eat raw food.

The VIRUS is very different from bacteria. Because they have a VERY DIFFERENT biological/chemical structure. Don’t confuse bacteria with virus.

The chicken eggs that’s been recalled is JUST AS UNSAFE (OR SAFE) as all the other meat products. COOK IT THROUGHLY!

Actually, hens have an opening called "vent" (reproductive area) where eggs come out of and an opening called "cloaca" where stools and urine come out. It's simple biology. Ask any female which hole they crap out of. I bet they won't say "vagina". Basic middle school biology. When a female gives birth to a baby, it's not going to be covered in feces. Simple biology.

Yes the outside of the egg might be dirty but the inside of the egg used to be very sterile. That's why there are good number of recipes out there required raw egg. Very sick chickens produce sick eggs. e.i. salmonella inside eggs.

Same with steaks. They are considered sterile if handled properly. Hamburger not so..... since they grind everything into a big pile.

And what does the subject virus has to do with this? Salmonella is a bacteria.

The DeCoster argument is very relavent and all true. Going cross country I have seen these chicken houses they are pigstys with chickens living on top of eachother and full of rodents. I don't remember if they were these but I'm sure they're all pretty much the same.

And of course let's blame illegal immigrants after all we all already know they started that war in Iraq also. lol dummies.

Reality Check !!!...too many bad eggs in existence..............

re:

cutlass

Yep, urinating wherever they damn well please and people wonder why we are sick. Wasn't it lettuce just a little while back. If these damn fools would just use a bathroom and wash their hands, none of this would be happening. Of course the wash your hands sign is only in English.

I bet you've seen all those marble-tiled bathrooms out in the fields with running water, stocked with paper towels, hand soap and matrons to keep them clean, right? People picking our food from the fields don't even have running water at home, never mind at work.

Just keep shopping for the cheapest food you can find without any regard to where it comes from, and then be shocked - shocked! - when the food supply is tainted. Oh yeah - then blame people who are victims of your greed.

It's unfathomable how out of touch people can be.

If you ate the eggs fully cooked, that is not the source of your illness. Most eggs are contaminated with salmonella- they come from a chicken's butt! We gave been warned for years that eggs should be well cooked to prevent salmonella. This is a tempest in a teapot. It makes me wonder what is going on that we are not supposed to notice.

Just wondering. What will they do with all these eggs? I suppose they could still be used in commercial products where the eggs are thoroughly cooked. Do they have to dispose of all those chickens too? That would be a tragedy.

Did any realize that Fred4Congress referred to two sexually transmitted diseases in humans when talking about animals? "Salmonella is a naturally occurring disease in chickens like e-coli in the stomach of cows, syphilis in sheep and gonorrhea in dogs.". I have never heard of syphilis in sheep, and I have been raising them for 18 years. And gonorrhea in dogs?

Let's keep our diseases specific to the species in question. Both syphilis and gonorrhea are transmitted by humans, to humans (in case anyone had doubts otherwise). And let's be clear on a few things regarding the actual disease (salmonella) in chickens. It is a bacteria that takes hold in sick poultry of any kind. Even if it might be present in healthy birds, it would not be dangerous to most people under those conditions. But I have to wonder why it is a problem when most people cook their eggs anyway.

@cutlass, wow, you're a bigot AND an idiot too. Sorry about your issues there.

remove all eggs from the market and create a 6 month moretorium on egg production.

this "egg problem" has the potential to affect or otherwise sicken with deadly potential more people than the gulf oil spill.

this company has never been inspected. i thought all "food related companies" had to be periodically inspected. also this company is a repeat offender.

we can't let the food sector make their own rules and operate "willy nilly" without the safety of all Americans considered.

don't they have any rules?

don't these high paid executives at these companies have a responsibility to the American people.

who do they think they are. why do they think that they can operate outside the law. who is monitoring these people. don't these employees working in these egg facilities have rules asn regulations to follow.

these are probably the same people who are paying politicians to let these mexicans thru the border so that they can get cheap labor.

as sad as it was only 11 people died in the oil spill.

every year 1500 people in the US die from Salmonella, Listeria, and Toxoplasma.

we didn't have these problems when Bush was in office.

this is exactly what happens when government takes over our lives. good luck all and may God protect us from this socialist/tyrant government.

Salmonella is in every healthy digestive tract. If we get "sick" from salmonella it is because the microflora in our system is not in balance. Also, getting diareaha, although unpleasant, is a sign that our system is cleaning itself.
Raw meat, eggs, dairy, fruits, and vegetables give us the proper flora. Stay away from all processed foods if you can.

Another reason to buy organic and local.

If you guys expect the FDA to protect you and your food source, think again.

Your local farmers do it better, cheaper and they need the support.

Sweetdfan, there are different levels of illness from salmonella. Some people, like your husband, become very ill - others (like me) just have gastric discomfort for a few days. So oldgirl might well have salmonella.

Patrick, while I agree that buying locally is a good idea, it's not necessarily going to protect you from disease. We have a lot of larger, family-owned farms here in Colorado, and guess who does the majority of the field work? Migrant workers - same as at the big farms. So if you happen to be going on the argument that having foreign workers contributes to contamination - as many posters seem to think - buying locally won't help.

Patrick-1112710 --- I hope that you realize that there are many levels of "organic" labeling. Not all organic products are pristine; in fact, most of them are not. Many "organic" farms in the USA willingly employ illegals/migrants and disallow these workers proper bathroom privileges. I suppose that can give new meaning to "organic!"

For produce (fresh fruits and vegetables), I shop at small, local farms that do not employ illegals/migrants. They are 100% run by family and closely monitored (legal) employess.

I also go to local farmer's markets. Again, I know where the farms are, have done my research, and know that their standards are high.

"Organic" shouldn't be our purchasing criteria because of the many phony labels allowable by the government.

no, organic eggs won't help keep you from getting salmonella. some of the bigger previous outbreaks have come from 'organic' farms. but you CAN buy pasteurized eggs, in the shell, that CANNOT carry it. (I am a breakfast cook in a high-risk facility that is required by law to use them.) they cost about 2 to 3 times as much to buy, and have a really high 'fail rate'- they tend to break their yolks much easier when turning and cooking, but you can serve them raw, if desired. (keep in mind that an over-easy/medium or soft boiled or poached egg IS raw, and can spread the disease.)

YOUR EGGS CAME FROM WHERE???

The USDA will tell you...

http://apps.ams.usda.gov/plantbook/Query_Pages/PlantBook_Query.asp

Check the "Shell Egg" box

Ha, and Walmart is doing the local-organic contracts with farmers. .. I live in an agricutural-centered state. Exporting wheat, soy beans, corn to Third World Countries ( LDC's specifically) is a big thing.

Plus bacteria is everywhere some varients worse then others it always exists using a " Anti" this or that only helps so much. Might as well learn to adjust to it.

There are plenty of reasons to not like illegals but my take is to blame the people who hire them. They would not be here if jobs were not provided for them. Beating on these people in this case has no merit and reduces the overall effect of the conversation when it is applied to a real case. The disease is transmitted from sick chickens to other chickens and finally to the eggs. Does not matter if it is an illegal or a legal worker it is a quality issue not paying attention and not testing your products before shipping. Shortcutting. Same as the meat suppliers same as the lettuce producers again there not taking a leak in the fields because that has very little to do with spreading ecoli. The lettuce thing was because they were using contaminated water for irrigation.

We need to wake up and demand that nothing that may be consumed raw can be shipped from any plant without a test being made on it ! It is simple as I used to work in QA. The batch no matter how large takes a random sample depending on how many pieces are in it and they are tested. If no bacteria are found you can sell it. If they are you can either dump the batch or sort it by lots and eliminate the bad lot.

But then again in todays business its profit before the customers safety and dont think for a minute it is not.

Really not every company has illegals, come on really talk about learning about Accountability in the US. Grow up and learn that with a lot of people obviously monitoring such things are going to be much tricker due to market practices.

And then they sell the contaminated bird poop to feed the cattle and make fertilizer for the vegans vegetables (contamination sucked up inside the vegetables).

P.E.T.A. (People Eating Tasty Animals) yum yum

eggs are also very good :)

We just put 4 laying hens in our backyard. It is crucial that people understand where there food comes from. We need to get back to visiting a local farmer, because guaranteed Farmer Bill is taking care of his chickens so your kids don't get sick. You can't look a faceless corporation dependent on lax government regulations in the eye to keep them honest.

you are right! the only thing this has to do with undocumented folks is that NO ONE else will work under these horrible conditions...the chickens would leave if they could and with salmonella affecting them they are 'dying' to leave. Americans have 'human rights' enough not to have to work in such an environment. undocumented have no choice and Decosta will gladly pay a few million to save the rest of his income and go on the same way abusing animal and human rights and getting richer. Seems to me that is the target, not those suffering from abuse.

There is one of those here in Ohio which stinks to high heaven and the fly population around it is maxed out.

I have to say that I live in area with commercial chicken houses and your information is just incorrect. These are the nastiest places in our county ... not a controlled environment, no cooling system (which is unthinkable in the Deep South), the excrement can be smelled for MILES! I would love to know where your information comes from, as it cannot be firsthand knowledge.

Jo-Jo is smiling....you have got to be kidding...wake up and smell the poop, the workers have to wear masks just to enter! Do your homework before you open your misinformed mouth when you obviously are the one who is mislead

JoJo..what planet are you on ? What you just told was complete FICTION. The henhouses house hundreds of thousands of birds in an area with NO light, NO ventilation and barely room for them to move comfortable. Dead carcasses litter the floors and the hens live among them. They are NOT cleaned out daily, or even weekly. They are absolutely disgustingly FILTHY and the stench of feces and ammonia is unbearable. You need to watch FOOD, Inc because if there is anyone who is completely UNINFORMED... it's YOU. I just drove by one of these facilities today. Rows and rows of unventilated commercial hen houses with NO windows and only ONE exhaust vent. It was 101 degrees here today.

lot of stupid right here. the "henhouses" your talking about are NOT hen houses, they are chicken houses and they are where your boiler/frier chickens come from NOT eggs. as Jo-Jo stated, egg producers are mostly automated now a days. i have a very close friend that installs and services said hen houses. thechickens are in coops that have no floor so there is little to no contact between the eggs and chicken poop. as for your "unventilated" chicken houses, again, lot of stupid right there. the new houses(built in the last 10-15 years are called draft houses. they have large filters at one end that are sprayed with water and large fans at the other end. the fans pull air through the damp filters in effect cooling the chicken houses. anychicken house has temp sensors that set off alarms if the temp gets above a preset temp. as for cleanliness, they are cleaned every time a flock is sent out before a new flock is delivered. also, there are not corpse just laying there. any chicken grower thats worth a damn walks his houses every morning and afternoon picking up any dead chickens. trust me, i know most of the chicken growers in this area and have even helped most of them if they were short handed.

wait, food inc. isn't that the special intrest group that has been found to be the source of many of the lies about the food industry?oh no it's a movie,well we can't deny something said in a movie.or can we?

I live in IA. I've never seen a chicken/egg farm but I have seen the inside of a turkey farm, where thousands of turkeys were crammed into one of those white barns with the vents at both ends? It was one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen. The smell of ammonia was so strong you actually couldn't walk all the way in...I will never forget what that looked like. I can't even really describe it very well. Jo-Jo I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you have no idea what you're talking about.

Pig barns are the worst! The smell penetrates everything and pigs are very clean animals!

It is true that modern egg facilities have automated systems, powerful ventilation, lighting etc. The chickens stand on a wire grate so the feces drops down and away from their coop.

It is also true that these places stink and by human standards are kind of filthy. In general though its a pretty food safe process providing something does not run amuck.

Jo-Jo is correct. I have seen first hand what the inside of an egg laying factory looks like. It is clean, the poop does travel on a conveyor away from the chickens and they are housed in a small cage and it has no floor. The eggs are washed more than 3 times. Inspected by computer and by human eye. Each egg passes through a light to ensure the insides are good. If they are not, it is rejected and thrown away. The place had a bad smell, but if you think about, the building houses chickens 365 days a year. It isn't gonna smell like roses. The places that have turkeys and chickens running around in a white building are the turkeys and chickens that are consumed. Those are the places where they don't clean out the dead birds more than once a month. The egg factories check on their birds and make sure they are living, a dead bird or one that doesn't produce is one that doesn't make the company any money, they are more than happy to get rid of that bird.

Correct, Fire and Rescue. There is a difference in how the animals are kept, use-wise. Also, not every breed is used for eggs/meat. a leghorn (used for eggs) cannot be compared to a Jersey giant (used for meat).

Chicken houses are different depending on the area you live in, the age of the building, the type of building. In Ohio, the weather can be below 0 to above 100 degrees. Most laying hen house built are high rises, which means at about 10 feet or so off the ground the chickens are housed in cages on an "A" frame. These cages are wire and allow manure to fall threw to the ground level or "pit" and the eggs roll out of the cages (which are slightly slanted) on to a converyor belt. The pit is cleaned 1-2 times a year...but the cool thing about this type of pit is that the manure is pretty much dry because of the air movement - this drastically decrease the smell. The manure is high in nitrogen so it makes excellent fertilizer for fields. Actually, chicken maunure is first choice for grain farmers over applying man-made fertilizer.

Now for the eggs, they roll on to the converyor belt right after the chicken lays it. This is so important because chickens can easily step on the eggs or will peck at them. The conveyor belt takes the eggs to an egg packer (a machine that packages up the egg). Some chicken farms process (candle, wash, etc.) their own eggs, where others are trucked in skids to processing plants. So really, there is no human contact with he eggs.

As for the controlled environment. Wow it is controlled. Chicken houses are equipped with alarm systems, which call out if something if off in the chicken house, such as the temperature or the lights go out. The temperature is regulated with ventilation systems and fans. When it's hot outside the fans run wide open to keep air moving. When it's cold a minimum number of fans run to keep warmth in but ammonia levels down. So, no airconditioners or heaters, but they aren't needed. The electric that rund these can go out, and a generator automatically kicks in to pull the load ans keep things normal for the chickens.

Lighting is essential to maximize the potential of each chicken. Chickens only lay and eat when it's light out. So, in chicken houses the farmer is able to control the hours of light. And trust me, spacing of the light bulbs is even researched!

Feeders are automated. This is as essential as the hours of lighting. The more feed the chicken eats, the more eggs and higher quality of egg it produces. After several months of peak production, the chickens can get worn out. So, you back off the feed and the hours the lights are on and put them through a molt. When they come back from the molt, production could peak again.

As for dead chickens laying around. This is minimal. Farmers walk the houses at least twice a day checking to make sure everything that is automated is working, looking for signs of stress or sickness in chickens, pulling dead bird out and more. (The # of dead birds is recorded...so if the number starts rising, it's easy to tell something is wrong.)

The ammonia levels...they are worse in the winter than in the summer. In the winter less fans run to bring ammonia out of the building. Some farmers even have ammonia level testers. This ensures the levels don't get too high. If the levels are too high, it's not good for them or the chickens. And yes, those walking the building wear masks...some because of allergies, some because of the dust the chickens make when you walk through the building.

It's crazy how much there is to taking care of a house full of chickens - some chickens are even weighed for performance...some are cut open to make sure the flock is performing well and the feed ration is correct. Cards are hung throughout the building to make sure insect levels (mostly flies) are to a minimum. The number of gallons each row of chickens drink is document. And much more!

Government regualtions on these buildings is beneficial as much as I hate to say. They just make sure you are keeping track of everything...even the weather when manure is hauled to ensure it wasn't raining! Some items are ridiculous, but could be essential to some farms.

Some farmers can really make the good ones look terrible, keep that in mind. But your good, true, honest farmers take care of their animals usually better then their families- their animals are thier livelihoods to take care of their families. So, why would a farmer want to stress out the chickens, beat the cows and pigs, etc?

Sure if a farmer is doing something wrong report it. It could save people from the disaster like this one. But if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction and you smell manure...it isn't the farmers fault. They have a job to do too.

Be on the watch as tractors are going to be on roadways as harvest gets in full swing...again, they are doing their jobs - be patient! And a farmer really likes a wave and a smile from a stranger :)

Oh and my sources...I was born and raised in farming - laying hens, swine and grain and now working communictions and marketing for 2 farmer owned co-ops. Call me biast or call me a knowledgable expert...That's up to you.

Sure if a farmer is doing something wrong report it. It could save people from the disaster like this one. But if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction and you smell manure...it isn't the farmers fault. They have a job to do too.

Kinda reminds me of the idiots who tried to close a swine farm down a few years ago. Basically, some people bought their homes and didn't smell anything. Then when the summer came and the wind picked up, they smelled the pigs.

The people wanted it to be shut down because of the odor. Talk about stupid: the swine farm was there first (actually, was there before the houses were even built) and it actually went to court. In the end, the swine farm remained open and the home owners got stuck with lawyer fees.

jmm1028;

It is rare that I see a comment that is intelligent and enjoyable to read, to the point that I wish to say so, but I really think highly of your comment.

Checkmate-983933;

It sounds to me that you are talking of the pig farm in North Las Vegas. I actually lived on the military base close to there once and a short drive west would get you a nice smell of the area.

I agree with your assesment, it is actually quite hillarious. If you look on a map of where the pig farm is located, you can see a nice big spot right in the middle of where all those homes were developed. Streets all around the farm, and a big blank spot right in the middle of the map.

The farm had been there since the 60's when the Las Vegas population was around 600,000 or so and the population was focused more toward the center of town. That entire area was completely open, with just a few junk yards for old cars a short distance away. Then a big boom of mostly Californians and New Yorkers started moving in around the 80's and continued for about 25 years. There is now around 2 million in the area. Homes boomed, from prices that once went from $35,000 were now selling for at least $125,000; with many of these people purchasing the homes for cash from the sales of their nice inflated home sales in California. People bought anything and everything and there were even year long waiting lists for Construction companies to build a home for you.

First off, anyone trying to pin this on illegals is highly misinformed. Salmonella is not spread by human urine! Secondly, most of these people are NOT ALLOWED to use the restroom to urinate or wash their hands! It slows down the process and costs the company money. Since these people are illegals, they have no where to turn to complain. That's how these companies get away with these practices. Read the book Slaughtherhouse. There have been multiple undercover investigations into every aspect of the animal agriculture industry, and it is disgusting! These people are injured, made ill, and required to work under unsanitary conditions for no money. I'm not saying that being here illegally is right, but these companies should not be allowed to treat any human being this way. So, I wouldn't be too quick to judge the cleanliness of these people on the job. It's not always their choice of when and where they get to use the restroom!

Jmm1028: You are awesome! Exactly what I've seen in every egg plant I've seen and do business with. It's amazing what some people will believe, and I've been half laughing-half fuming at some of these posts. Thanks for an intelligent and ACCURATE post. Your time & effort is appreciated!!

Modern chicken houses of any type actually are highly controlled environments. They are heated in the winter and cooled with evaporative coolers and fans in the summer. To have any other condition is unprofitable because the chickens will not lay well if they are uncomfortable. The reason why they stink for a long way from their source is because the waste is piled up until it is taken away for fertilizer. Even leaving the waste too long in the houses is unprofitable because of disease problems (obviously someone was getting greedy in this particular case and trying to minimize their labor costs) and ammonia build-up causes lung damage.

Ok, I will have to say Food, Inc. has a lot of truth...but is heavily onesided. For example Food, Inc. portrays Monsanto as a monsterous horrible company, but did you know they also introduced carateen into varieties of rice in third world countries and drastically reduced the number of people who became blind?

Research the other side.

"did you know they also introduced carateen into varieties of rice in third world countries and drastically reduced the number of people who became blind?"

no they didn't. golden rice was developed by scientists in switzerland and germany and has yet to reach the market.

Monsanto's lawsuits of small farmers have devolved into circuses that essentially require the farmer to prove a negative (that they didn't actively "steal" [retain] product). Farmers can't afford to do this, so mostly they capitulate. It really is indefensible and in my opinion, makes Monsanto a bad company.

They were one of the first companies to issue free licenses for golden rice for humanitarian use though.

...and Soylent Green because we'll still be paying for Barry's healthcare program, the planet will have twelve billion people, and we'll be feeding off of the elderly and the infirm.

no ,unlike you i know how to hunt and fish.and as far as that goes,we where supposed to be overpopulated by 1989,and again in 2000,and again in 2006.just because you stick your fingers in your ears and shout lalalala,doesn't make the lie any less of a lie.

Eggs Eggs Eggs - I only eat Plastic Eggs left over from Easter !

MMMMMMMMM...Soylent Green

While I agree with you that I like fram fresh eggs better, it has been my experience that they are usually much higher in price. About twice as expensive as store bought eggs. And yes I live in a rural area and know many people who sell their own eggs.

Brenda-1537877 You obviously did not go to the right source for your eggs. I used to sell brown eggs on the street corner on Saturday only every week. I was selling mine for $1.00 per dozen which was half the local Wal-Mart sold them for. I would also give my customers a 10 cent per carton price break if they brought their own cartons. I also had a few select customers that would get their eggs for free from me for suppling me with recycled cartons in good condition.

They charge $4-$6/dozen for eggs in my area :(

Marie: Hmmmm. Too much work to sell them for $1/dozen...you should charge twice the price of the grocery chains. The reason you are no longer selling them may be that you were losing money from the start.

Smc- $4/doz/12=33 cents each. 33 cents to know who, what, when, where and how your food was produced seems like a very cheap price.

I used to buy beautiful eggs locally....until PETA put them out of business by picketing and harassing them. And these were peace-loving, animal-loving Monks who used their egg farm to self-support their abbey. (Mepkin Abbey) Disgusting PETA. So instead of buying fresh, local eggs for a decent price, we have to go to supermarkets and buy eggs from mega big-box egg companies that ship them in from who knows where. PETA only picks on people and small companies that can't afford to defend themselves in order to make their self-serving points.

ExpatinAsia... when you have chickens and eggs.. after a while a $1 a dozen is good enough as you have eggs comming out of your ears. A good many of local people here don't sell eggs for profit or raise chickens to sell eggs. It's just a way to hand out the excess eggs. I was to a point of getting a dozen a day with my 20 hens.

I also sold eggs to people. If they brought me cartons it was a dollar a dozen. Else I sold them for a 1.50. I do see, in big cities that fresh eggs can go for 4 dollars a dozen and am rather amazed, but boy are they better tasting.

unfortunately if the USDA and big ag have their way, the farmers with fresh eggs will not be able to afford chickens because here is what they will have to do in order to own even one chicken or any other farm animal or horse or even parakeet, llama or any other of 33 species...

If the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is made mandatory, anyone who owns even one horse, chicken, cow, pig, sheep, goat, or any other livestock or exotic, will have to:

• Register their property with the state and federal government;
• Identify each animal, in most cases with electronic identification (MICROCHIPS);
• Report events to a government-accessible database within 24 hours, including every dead or missing animal, private sales, and regional shows"
• if animal disease suspected an entire 6 mi radius of healthy animals can be depopulated to prevent spread of outbreak.

Protection from disease is why we are told NAIS is needed, but the real reason is for the benefit of big agriculture/factory farms so they can sell meat globally. But they do not have to tag/ track individual critters. They get ONE lot number for each animal group. And the tracking of any animals stops at slaughter, after which many food safety issues occur such as E-coli.

Listening sessions held last summer by the USDA about NAIS show the people are overwhelmingly against NAIS. But the USDA said these sessions showed "substantial support" for NAIS... Huh?!?!?!? They apparently were listening with fingers in their ears!) See nonais dot org for more info on the program that will affect everyone who eats.

NAIS is weighted towards big corporations. The regulations allows one batch of factory farmed chickens to be "Virtually" tagged, meaning a label stuck on the door of the coop, where the chickens spend their entire lives. The RFID tags are never used on the animal, saving thousands of hours of labor, cost and equipment for the large producers.

However, if I have a flock of chickens, I need to tag each one. That means buying the equipment, tags, software and take the time to ensure that all this data is backed up and maintained.

The "Meat Factories" have got to be shut down! There is no reason that anyone ANYWHERE in the united states should have to get meat or eggs that are raised more than 90 miles from their residence. Will cost go up? maybe, but we will be saving on shipping costs in refridgerated trucks and cargo planes. OH... and less food-born illness outbreaks like salmonella and e-coli.

Eh, depends on what kind of people are selling eggs. I have already gotten a carton of eggs that were fertilized and like a week shy of hatching if they were put in an incubator or kept with the chicken. When I went to them to get my money back or to get an exchange, they refused.

So, I don't go to their store anymore.

Nan-377725, you are absolutely right. PETA often does more harm than good because they are uninformed and don't bother to research what they are protesting.

i'm an american living in paris, france, just recently moved here, for retirement. i bought a very nice looking chicken at the market a few weeks back from alocal butcher shop, there seems to be one on every block, some times 2, and they are across the street from one another. so i boought this big chicken, it still had the innards, the feet on, the neck, head and a ring of feather around the neck so you could tell what breed of bird you were getting. it cost 16euros. or about $21 for a 4 lb, dressed chicken. great tasting chicken but $21!!!!! it was local, it was fresh and it tasted very, very good. but who is going to pay that kind of money for their dinner every night, for a family of 4-5 people?

and the eggs here are different, too. the yolks are orangeand taste like they did when we raised our own chickens when i was a kid. most americans i don't think know that an egg yolk should have this wonderfully unctuous quality and flavor to it.

and when i went to a friends house the eggs were sitting on the counter. when i asked why, he said "if you put the eggs in the refrige they loose their flavor". so i haven't put mine in the icebox since and guess what? nothing has happened to me. and the eggs are fine a week or more later. sometimes i think american tend to over do--------just about everything.

(america sells and peddles panic and alarm. and i got tired of it. there is very little panic or alarm here. and guess what, the sun is brighter and it feels warmer on my face. i am enjoying it here very, very much. and every block seems to have a bakery, where you can buy REAL bread. that tastes GOOD!!!! simple, yet remarkable. like i said, life here ain't half bad.)

when i was a kid i remember the big debate about refrigerating eggs. and it seems someone else came down on the other side of the argument. and they aren't dropping dead in the streets. in fact most of them look down right healthy to me.

for what it is worth. my 2 cents worth. paul in cool. cloudy, paris. where we keep the eggs on the counter!!! and the bread, by law, is only allowed to have 4 ingrediants---flour, water, salt and yeast. again, pretty simple, huh??

I'm thankful that the local stores sell eggs from a local egg farm. Wish there were organic egg farms that sold at the three farmers markets but alas there aren't. Hmm... there's an idea for a small business.

i see these trailer like chicken houses. and it gets pulled around the grounds/fields. a new and different spot everyday. they get out and range about, eating the bugs and insects and whatever else they find, fertilizing as they go. at night they go back in their mobile home to be unloaded somewhere new the next day. so from garden to orchard to meadow to flower bed. the @!$%# doesn't pile up and the smell is undetectable. i don't know what some of these people are talking about. maybe big commercial farms. but i am talking about having 20-30 chickens. enough for a family to have insect free gardens and organic fertilizer all in one swoop. and maybe enough eggs to sell to the neighbors. so you can raise clean chickens. and the birds can live in clean conditions, without to much trouble. it isn't rocket science folks.

Why - is Paris Hilton in it ????

lol

ok i'll watch it at dinner tonight while im eating a big fat steak.and it wont bother me in the least

You're an idiot.

Improper cleaning is correct. I am living in the Philippines and we have commercial hen houses that are modeled after the US production model with one BIG exception (well one that I know of). The eggs here are not washed before they are shipped. When you wash an egg it removes all of the beneficial bacteria that protects the egg. Plus like all of the other problems with bulk food production, the sanitation methods can't keep up with the volume. It took me a long time to get used to walking into a grocery store and seeing eggs displayed on a regular shelf; not under refridgeration. But the instances of serious food related illness are very rare here. Water related illness is a major issue but not food.

MMMMMMM Philippines Balut and beer.

Water related illness is a major issue but not food.

The other illness is way to the south, lead poisoning (as in shot by Islamic Believers).

MMMM and Pili Nuts!

Actually, Arylioa, I have to respectfully disagree with you. Right now I have about 20 chickens, 3 turkeys, and 4 ducks. (moved to the country last year and having fun raising some of our own meat and eggs.) Of course chickens aren't as smart as humans, but chickens do need mental stimulation. In a flock, chickens establish a hierarchy, which the Alpha rooster in charge, then the alpha hen on down. One time when my kids forgot to feed the birds for a couple of hours, when the birds were finally fed I watched our rooster circle around the feeder making sure each hen was eating before he joined in. Chickens receive mental stimulation by running around scratching the ground looking for bugs and other goodies to eat. They like to lay down and stretch out their legs and wings and take dust baths. We were surprised when we learned that chickens each have their own little personalities.

Caged chickens may get all the water and feed they want, but not the freedom to engage in chicken behavior which can led to boredom and overly aggressive behaviors. They may start pecking their cage mates, (yes, chickens may attack each other in flock situations, but it's usually because a chicken is injured or other reasons, not out of boredom) which is why some commercial facilities need to debeak chickens. Chickens can also get "bumble foot", a condition where their feet grow abnormally around their wire flooring. A chicken may not be able to articulate that they are uncomfortable in their surroundings, but that doesn't mean they aren't.

@ david....the people on this post are not ready for Balut....personally it is one of my favorite Filipino delicacies.

Some of those so called delicacies taste like crap! A baby duck in a shell with feathers is kind of hard to swallow!

DG04

So sad our food supply is about $ and not the health of the people it is feeding.

That's the bad thing about capitalism... everyone wants to make money.

You'd have to live under a very efficient communist system in order to have the society you want.

too bad there is no such thing as an efficient communist system.greed is the great motivator.

Greed is a great motivator. The rub is that everyone's got to be greedy or else the wolf will be at the door. Anyone that considers themselves a capitalist and then talks about how they trust businesses is a fool.

Caveat emptor, people! There's nothing Communistic about not falling for what you're told or just buying what you're sold. Why shouldn't people recognize that businesses aren't acting out of concern for their interests? The last thing a good Capitalist economy needs is a bunch of stupid consumers that don't vote with their feet for products and practices in THEIR best interests.

And I personally buy my eggs from a local farm, where I've seen the conditions.

Way to gp Carolyn-1641719..... people that think our country does good for our people is hiding their head in the sand. Money means everything and that is all that is important. One reason our country is getting so fat and sickly is because of our need to put hormones and antibiotics in what we produce in order to make more money. And they are not the only ones that make the money from that the drug companies make the most they make the hormones and the antibiotics then they make the drugs that are suppose to cure of us the disease they are making in the first place. What a wonderful world we live in.

Catydid, I grew up on a farm with my grandmother and believe you me we ate meat killed at home slaughtered all of our meat ourselves. My grandmother has been dead for almost 30 years and she was 95 years old when she passed. She had one of the cleanest kitchens in the county. It is not so much what we eat but the gargantuan portions that we eat when we sit down to a meal. That is the biggest problems that we have today is our inability to control our own appetites.

hell wouldnt bother me a bit,we also butchered our own meat,i remember mom cooking up steaks that we had just cut from the bull,and man they were good

My grandparents had pig pens and a chicken house. We always had fresh eggs, and yes, both the pig pens and the chicken house did smell bad.

I raised several pigs from birth until butcher time. The pigs were realitively clean although they did eat almost anything left over from the kitchen (leftovers, like tomato ends, uneaten food from plates, yes, even bacon and sausage). Even after watching them be born, caring for them until they were fully grown, I never had a problem with slaughtering them, or eating them. They were food. They were born and raised to be eaten.

The chickens were sold for slaughter; however, we did go collect eggs by hand each day. Chickens are dirty, even some mean animals, but as long as the eggs were washed and eaten before they got old, the eggs were delicious. Even though it was 30 years ago, and my grandparents did the work themselves with the help of one hired hand, they did not neglect the chickens. Dead ones were disposed of daily and freash water and feed was supplied each day. Dead birds do not do sell, and only take up space that the live birds could be using.

This being said, I doubt very seriously that conditions have gotten worse in the last thirty years. My grandmother is celebrating her 90th birthday this year. She no longer has the pig pens or the chicken house. The chicken house became out dated and was torn down many years ago. We still eat chicken, eggs, bacon, pork chops and several other delicious forms of meat. Even deer that are hunted and killed. I see nothing wrong with eating meat of meat products such as eggs and milk. Like anything else, it should be done in moderation, there is no need to super-size everything. I respect people who choose not to eat meat; however, I expect the same respect from them.

Been there, seen that (went to a slaughterhouse a few years ago). I live with people who used to slaughter their own animals for their families (poultry, mostly). Larger animals such as pigs and cows they sent to a slaughterhouse.

"It would sure cure a lot of diseases like samonella and e coli because people wouldn't be so anxious to eat flesh."

No, it wouldn't. Remember that E. coli outbreak like 2 years ago that was found in spinach? The source? Wild pigs getting into the fields, defecating on the spinach and in the water system (which in turn, spread the E. coli even more). Not from eating meat.

In fact, when it comes to E. coli/salmonella and meat/green vegetables, majority of the time it isn't from an the meat/green vegetables themselves, but from the workers. How? Well, someone goes to the bathroom and doesn't wash their hands and returns to touch the food. . .ta-da.

I had a family member who in the 60's or 70's worked in a tobacco field for less than a month. One of the reasons why he left was because of how disgusting the fellow workers were. There was a bathroom in the distance and a worker would be crapping in the field and wiping their butt with the tobacco leaves.

And you're worried about E. coli/salmonella in meat coming from said meat. . .

if you are talking about the farm workers not washing their hands, it is impossible to do that, if there are no sinks, water and soap to do it with.

it was one of the things the great cesar chavez worked on, for years. just getting these people toilets and water to wash with to prevent disease. just basic sanitation.

YEARS!!!!! AND IN MANY FIELDS THE FARM WORKERS STILL DON'T HAVE THIS BASIC SANITATION SET UP AVAILABLE TO THEM.

YEARS!!!! so i ask: TO WHOM ARE YOU DIRECTING YOUR OUTRAGE AND BLAME? CERTAINLY NOT AT THE FARM WORKERS. please aim a little higher.

and then wikipedia what mr chavez worked so hard on for so long!

Hmm? E-coli in cigarettes........

they removed that page because they do not want you to know how they plant micromanage every thing you grow or raise for food

but here is a link that is not broken]

see nonais.org on how the USDA in hand with big ag plans to make it nearly impossible for people to own chickens or any othe farm animal. Parakeets are included in this onderous plan to track every last farm animal.

NAIS (The National Animal Identification System), is a so-called disease tracking food safety program the USDA is forcing on those who own even one chicken or any other farm animal. Many have been signed up without their knowledge or permission. Non-food animals such as horses, llamas, parakeets, etc are included in this program. Over 90% oppose this program yet the USDA continues to force this unwanted program on those who need it least.

If the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is made mandatory, anyone who owns even one horse, chicken, cow, pig, sheep, goat, or any other livestock or exotic, will have to:

• Register their property with the state and federal government;
• Identify each animal, in most cases with electronic identification (MICROCHIPS);
• Report events to a government-accessible database within 24 hours, including every dead or missing animal, private sales, and regional shows"
• if animal disease suspected an entire 6 mi radius of healthy animals can be depopulated to prevent spread of outbreak.

Protection from disease is why we are told NAIS is needed, but the real reason is for the benefit of big agriculture/factory farms so they can sell meat globally. But they do not have to tag/ track individual critters. They get ONE lot number for each animal group. And the tracking of any animals stops at slaughter, after which many food safety issues occur such as E-coli.

Listening sessions held during the summer by the USDA about NAIS show the people are overwhelmingly against NAIS. But the USDA said these sessions showed "substantial support" for NAIS... Huh?!?!?!? They apparently were listening with fingers in their ears!) See nonais dot org for more info on the program that will affect everyone who eats.

Mayo???????

Made from raw eggs.

I thought the MAYO, was a Clinic for cancer treatments ???

eggs in commercial mayo is pasteurized

Mayo, isnt that a Mexican thing or holiday or something

That is so right.

AMen....JUST COOK THE HELL OUT OF IT. I know people who eat "pink hamburger" and then wonder why they have diarrhea for a week. AMAZING!!!

I really do not believe that any of you are going to burn your eggs at about 170 degrees F for about 10 minutes (to prevent) or about 140 degrees F for about 30 minutes to kill the salmonella.

The only way to actually quickly prevent and kill this kind of thing is like vegetables e coli, a radiation flash (non lingering irradiation). The proof being the Europeans that eat things like irradiated Steak Tartare (usually with a raw egg on top, surrounded by spices and raw vegetables) with their numbers of reported cases of salmonella and e coli infections going down. Unfortunely, about 1 of every 6 Europeans are salmonella carriers (because the foods were not previously irradiated to kill the salmonella and e coli).

Yes, I ate those kinds of things while living at Europe for over 20 years as well as deployments to the "Middle East" and worldwide (by the way if you eat Filipino Balut for the first time get drunk first (and close your eyes) then pop it into your mouth.

ikie, my man, I like to eat a lotta things Pink too,, but it ain't hamburger - believe me !!!

you cook the piss out of kidneys, not liver, FYI

mmm Pink is my favorite color

You mean like the e coli outbreak a few years back from spinach. Or the e coli outbreak from tomatoes or was it peppers in the salsa. Or the e coli outbreak from the green onions. Or the...

Need I continue? Yeah, didn't think so.

Jeesh TP, Jack was being sarcastic.

Just maybe that's why you now see portable toilets in fields. It's called basic sanitation to protect public health.

You wouldn't be refering to the Fresh Express Salad mixes now would you?

Please,don't tell me those are bad! :(

Sooo thats what that funny looking brown stuff is on top of the salads you get at the stores,,, no wonder they look kinda weird,,,, and smell too, now I know - its that new Diarrhea Dressing their coming out with,,,,,, Yuk,,, Diarrhea Dressing,,,, OMG !!!!!

some fast food chain, BK or wendy's, had some half cooked onions sitting around. many people got poisoned and a few died.

you gotta know how to cook the stuff too. it can really bite you in the back pants seam if you don't.

Not everyone can find "CAGE FREE ORGANIC EGGS".

How do you know that they are cage free?

Do you know what Organic means?

I have never ever gotten ill eating supermarket eggs either.

I have been on cagefree farms and the birds are prone to: disease because you cant dissenfect an open area and control what comes into these areas, extreem cold and heat. The birds at these so called cage free farms often pile in storms causing death. To be a organtic farmer only a certain percentage of your farm needs to be organtic thus they are probably a just a regular egg. Farms go to extreme measures to keep these areas clean often showering in and out. Next time you go to your store think of everything that is made of eggs and think of how much your bill would be if these nuts wanted each chicken to have its own cage and free to roam. Think people what does it take to feed the world at a economical affordable price?

um aren't all eggs organic or have they changed the meaning of organic,oh wait they did,only to charge more for the"organic"label.

Cage free Organic is just another BS marketing tool that was allowed when the Federal Organic Standards were hijacked by big business. Truely healthy birds should be "Free Range"; raised in THEIR natural environment. Organic Feed fed to birds in confinement (cage free) is only marginally better, because of the organic feed, than the current confinement method.

ikie12pts - they have organic, cage free eggs at my Super Walmart.

I pretty much always felt eggs were organic.....

I feed my chickens (or they raid my garden) I eat the egg. Organic.

If the USDA has their way along with Big Ag using our tax dollars a program called rNAIS (The National Animal Identification System) will be implemented that will keep everyone from owning chickens or cows or pigs or horses, goats, etc (except big ag who is exempt)

NAIS is a so-called disease tracking food safety program the USDA is forcing on those who own even one chicken or any other farm animal. Many have been signed up without their knowledge or permission. Non-food animals such as horses, llamas, parakeets, etc are included in this program. Over 90% oppose this program yet the USDA continues to force this unwanted program on those who need it least.

If the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is made mandatory, anyone who owns even one horse, chicken, cow, pig, sheep, goat, or any other livestock or exotic, will have to:

• Register their property with the state and federal government;
• Identify each animal, in most cases with electronic identification (MICROCHIPS);
• Report events to a government-accessible database within 24 hours, including every dead or missing animal, private sales, and regional shows"
• if animal disease suspected an entire 6 mi radius of healthy animals can be depopulated to prevent spread of outbreak.

Protection from disease is why we are told NAIS is needed, but the real reason is for the benefit of big agriculture/factory farms so they can sell meat globally. But they do not have to tag/ track individual critters. They get ONE lot number for each animal group. And the tracking of any animals stops at slaughter, after which many food safety issues occur such as E-coli.

Listening sessions held during the summer by the USDA about NAIS show the people are overwhelmingly against NAIS. But the USDA said these sessions showed "substantial support" for NAIS... Huh?!?!?!? They apparently were listening with fingers in their ears!) See nonais dot org for more info on the program that will affect everyone who eats.

esbee, we all got your message on NAIS the first time. Now you're just annoying people with the constant re-posts.

Come on people think about it, all of those grocery stores selling those "Organic", "Cage free" eggs; where are they finding all those "free ranging" chickens running around the countryside? How the hell are they finding all those eggs?

just to clarify again....cage free does not mean free range....the only difference between caged and cage free birds is that they are in big groups inside the confinement houses instead of individually caged.

you are correct expatinasia

the problem with this is that AMERICANS have been dumbed down so much they don't know te difference. Word it so it sounds good and it's ok. If they are paying illegals that much then AMERICANS should be doing the job - solve unemployment. Also, illegals will pay taxes to the IRS however, they can't file a tax return. The company gets a tax break for hiring the illegals and the IRS keeps the money. What are they doing with all the money?

Just don't purchase any eggs from any store for a bit - all of them work ilegals - everywhere.

How do you get a tax break by hiring illegals? The money collected is set in a seperate account just incase one of the illegals can some day prove he is legal.. I know, one of those scum bags stole my identity.

gave-up -

see 29.0, and get rid of the 'tude.

i had no idea that eggs were of a political persuasion. The owners are - who cares - they work illegals - they are breaking the law and should thr penalties of the law. Dems, Repubs - doesn't matter - fire all of them.

it is really weird though. Not being racist but, the blacks worked the chicken houses and now they are supervisors and illegals are doing their old job. My son is a welder and goes all of the place and clues me in on what he experiences. Nasty stuff and crooks be protected by the dems and their follwers and legal support group - and the IRS.

The illegals will get paid on a day that coincides with the mail run and then a trip tothe human services dept located in the rural woods - same place they vote. Eggs - it don't matter - fix the problem at ground level and it will correct itself as it moves up the ladder.

I did not vote for bush or obama. I am against illegals taking AMERICAN joboth political parties will get a wake up call pretty soon. Dont buy any eggs for 2 weeks and the problem will surface and it will be evident to all what is really going on.

this company has never been inspected. i thought all "food related companies" had to be periodically inspected. also this company is a repeat offender.

we can't let the food sector make their own rules and operate "willy nilly" without the safety of all Americans considered.

don't they have any rules?

don't these high paid executives at these companies have a responsibility to the American people.

who do they think they are. why do they think that they can operate outside the law. who is monitoring these people. don't these employees working in these egg facilities have rules asn regulations to follow.

these are probably the same people who are paying politicians to let these mexicans thru the border so that they can get cheap labor.

remove all eggs from the market and create a 6 month moratorium on egg production.

this "egg problem" has the potential to affect or otherwise sicken with deadly potential more people than the gulf oil spill.

How do you get farm fresh eggs? A lot of people have NEVER had farm fresh eggs. I had them when I was little. My grandparents lived on a farm, but as an adult, I haven't had the opportunity. Also, they are just as prone to salmoenella as the ones in stores, maybe more so, because they aren't scanned. My father owned a grocery and didn't want to endanger his clients' health, by buying farm "fresh" eggs.

I still sell mine for a dollar a dozen.But I'm in western Kansas.Come on down .

I'd like to place an order right here - I'd like 500 dozen of your eggs, and can you ship them by truck in a platic bag too,,,, and i'd like Insurance in case they get here all broke and stuff,,,, and over night too,,,, How Much ?? I'm in Kansas City ,,,, ship them puppies right away will Ya !!!!