Grassroots campaign spurs supermarket chains to distance themselves from egg-farm owner with history of FDA violations, including recent salmonella outbreak.
CLEAR LAKE, Iowa – Two major retail supermarket chains, Trader Joe’s and Fareway Stores Inc., have agreed to pull DeCoster-affiliated brands of eggs from the shelves of their combined 442 stores nationwide. The news comes as a result from pressure from Food Democracy Now!, a grassroots community of over 150,000 Americans, after it was announced that the recent salmonella outbreak, which affected thousands, stemmed from two Iowa facilities owned by Austin “Jack” DeCoster.
Earlier this week, Food Democracy Now! began calling on its members to send messages to supermarkets nationwide to stop selling egg brands that come from DeCoster’s facilities after it became known that Wright County and Hillandale Farms – both owned by Jack DeCoster – were the source of the latest salmonella outbreak in eggs that sickened thousands of Americans and caused a nationwide recall of over 550 million eggs. To date, the petition has over 31,000 signatures and has been Food Democracy Now!’s source of support in calling on supermarket chains affiliated with DeCoster and asking them to make their customers’ safety a top priority.
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Last night the Food and Drug Administration released the gruesome details of its investigation into the Iowa-based Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms egg laying facilities responsible for the recall of more than 550,000,000 eggs and 1,500 illnesses in 23 states. Already the largest egg recall in the nation's history, the findings of this report are sure to become legendary in the offenses of industrial animal confinements here in the U.S.
The new FDA report confirms what, FDA commission Margaret Hamburg has already told national media outlets that the Jack DeCoster owned Wright County Egg and DeCoster-affiliated Hillandale Farms were operatiing in an unsafe manner. Until last night, how unsafe remained in question, and the details of this new report are not for the faint of heart.
According to USA Today's Elizabeth Weise's article, titled, "Filth, rats found at Iowa egg producers at center of recall" the DeCoster's Wright County Egg facility was described by FDA investigators "as filthy, rat and fly-infested and so overflowing with manure that in several cases doors could not be closed".
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It has been a scary week for the American breakfast table.
More than a half billion eggs have been pulled from grocery stores, and more than 1,300 people have been stricken with salmonella. While the problem has been traced to a particularly bad actor, Jack DeCoster and his companies, in reality the recall is a symptom of much larger problems with our food system. Small farms have been replaced by massive "animal factories" that would make you sick to look at, with animals living in brutally overcrowded conditions that provide perfect breeding-grounds for disease.
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Last night Michael Pollan appreared on CNN to speak with Sajay Gupta about the massive egg recall currently spiraling through 22 states (and growing) according to the Centers for Disease Control. Pollan began by talking about the food industry's divide and conquer tactics regarding monitoriing the food industry, with the USDA responsible for regulating poultry and pasteurized (or liquid) eggs and the Food and Drug Administation (FDA) responsible for fresh "shell" eggs, the kind you crack open on a hot skillet.
According to Pollan, the current convoluted U.S. food safety regime has been created through intentional design. "Our food industry has fought tooth and nail to keep power divided. And power divided is never strong," said Polan
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