By DOUG SCHMITZ
Iowa Correspondent

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — While one of two Iowa farms has been cleared to sell its eggs again nearly three months after the company voluntarily recalled almost a half-billion of its Salmonella-tainted shelled eggs, the second farm could be shut down if it doesn’t comply with the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said last week.

In an Oct. 15 letter to Gary Bartness, plant manager at Hillandale Farms of Iowa, Inc., John Thorsky – FDA district director in Kansas City, Kan. – said he found the New Hampton facility’s “corrective actions” to be “adequate” after Hillandale and Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, were linked to 1,600 salmonella illnesses earlier this year.

“We note your agreement to clean and disinfect houses 1 and 2 prior to repopulation, and commitment to comply with the requirements of the Egg Safety Rule, including with regard to egg testing houses with environmental positives,” Thorsky said concerning Hillandale’s Oct. 1 request for permission to resume selling eggs at its West Union facility.

“Based on your representations, FDA’s confirmation of your corrections as noted during our October inspection, and the consistent SE (salmonella enteritidis) negative test results for both the environment and eggs at houses 3, 5 and 7, FDA does not object to your resumption of shell egg production for the tablet market at these West Union houses at this time.”

In his warning letter to Wright County Egg, however, Thorsky told owner Austin “Jack” DeCoster, who also owns Hillandale, that he should take “prompt and aggressive actions to eliminate the (SE) contamination.

“Failure to take prompt corrective action may result in regulatory action being initiated by the (FDA) without further notice,” Thorsky said. “These actions include, but are not limited to, seizure and/or injunction.”

Both Wright County Egg and Hillandale declined Farm World’s requests for comment.

In early July 2010, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified a nationwide increase in the number of SE cases. In August, Wright County Egg recalled 380 million shelled eggs and Hillandale recalled 170 million.

Public health officials conducting epidemiologic investigations in 10 states since April 2010 identified 26 restaurants or SE outbreak clusters where more than one ill person with the outbreak strain had eaten, Thorsky reminded DeCoster in the letter.

“Data from these investigations suggest that shell eggs were a likely source of infections in many of these restaurants or SE outbreak clusters,” he said. “As you are aware, your firm has been implicated as one of the sources of SE-contaminated shell eggs.”
Wright County officials told the FDA it would implement its SE Prevention Plan; however, Thorsky said the company failed to comply as promised. He listed additional violations of the PHS Act, such as failure to “properly bait and seal rodent burrows located along the second floor baseboards” inside several of its poultry houses.

He also noted the company’s failure to “achieve satisfactory rodent and pest control” and “document your inspections of rodent traps and bait stations” as well as the “washing and disinfection of your dead hen truck prior to moving from farm to farm.”

“This letter is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of violations at your facility,” Thorsky said. “You are responsible for ensuring that your firm operates in compliance with the Act, the shell egg regulation and the PHS Act. You also have a responsibility to use procedures to prevent further violations.”

He said the FDA did receive Wright County Egg’s Oct. 5 response “reflecting ongoing discussions with the agency of your corrective actions … We acknowledge your commitment to correcting the deviations and will verify your corrections via inspection.”
Last month, Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey said federal oversight within the U.S. egg industry is necessary to ensure rules and regulations remain consistent across state lines. As the nation’s top egg-producing state, its 80 egg farmers have 57 million layers producing about 14.25 billion eggs per year, according to the Iowa Egg Council.