KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A manager of the north-central Iowa egg farm linked to the 2010 nationwide salmonella outbreak pled guilty Sept. 12 to bribing a USDA inspector to allow the sale of contaminated eggs to the general public.

Tony Wasmund, a former manager of DeCoster Farms in Clarion, Iowa, is charged with one count of conspiring to bribe a federal official several months before the 2010 outbreak. He pled guilty in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

According to The Associated Press, a charging document said Wasmund authorized $300 to be given to another employee in April 2010 to bribe a USDA inspector. In early July 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified a nationwide increase in the number of salmonella enteritidis (SE) cases.

In August 2010, Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, recalled more than 380 million shelled eggs and Hillandale Farms of Iowa, Inc. in New Hampton recalled 170 million – two of DeCoster’s egg farms that were linked to an estimated 2,000 salmonella illnesses in early 2010.

In all, more than half a billion eggs were recalled during the 2010 outbreak.

Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a warning letter to Centrum Valley Farms, LLP of Clarion, which leased all of its egg production facilities owned by Jack DeCoster and his son, Peter, in 2011, concerning salmonella heidelberg (SH) bacteria discovered in two of the company’s six poultry barns during federal inspections in April and May.

“SH has caused several egg-associated outbreaks resulting in human illness and, at times, death,” wrote John Thorsky, director of the FDA’s Kansas City regional office in the Aug. 14, 2012, warning letter sent to Centrum Valley Farms, nearly a month before Wasmund’s guilty plea to bribery.

“Given this body of evidence, the FDA considers SH within a poultry house environment to be a public health threat,” he added. “We acknowledge that you have been working with the FDA to address this situation.”

The FDA said SH is an organism that can transmit via the transovarian route, in a fashion similar to SE. “There is a strong body of scientific evidence indicating the primary risk factor for SH illnesses is shelled eggs,” the letter stated.”

In the letter, under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the FDA stated the contaminated eggs “may have been prepared, packed or held under unsanitary conditions whereby they may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby they may have been rendered injurious to health.”

In addition, Thorsky’s letter stated Centrum Valley Farms failed to have a written SE prevention plan that includes, at a minimum, prevention measures. Moreover, it alleged the company “failed to conduct environmental testing for SE in the pullet environment when the pullets were 14 to 16 weeks of age” as required by the Act, as well as failing to “conduct environmental testing for SE in the poultry house when laying hens reached 40 to 45 weeks of age” as required.

As a result, Thorsky gave Centrum Valley Farms 15 working days to respond in writing to his letter, outlining the specific things the company has done or plans to do to correct the violations and prevent their recurrence.

“Failure to promptly correct these violations may result in the FDA taking regulatory action without further notice, such as seizure, injunction or the initiation of administrative enforcement procedures,” he wrote.

Two days before Wasmund’s guilty plea, Steve Boomsma, CEO and owner of Centrum Valley Farms, said the company was responding to the FDA’s findings, and “we have already taken corrective actions.

“Providing safe, high-quality eggs to Centrum Valley Farms customers is our obligation,” he said on Sept. 10. “As part of their inspection last May, the FDA found positive environmental tests results for salmonella heidelberg in two of our barns.

“While a positive barn environmental test does not mean the bacteria is present in eggs, Centrum Valley Farms, in the interest of egg safety, followed the same protocol for SH as is required under the federal Egg Rule for salmonella enteritidis.”

Boomsma said eggs from those barns were diverted from the market until eggs tested negative in four tests and then were approved by the FDA to go to “the table egg market.

“At Centrum Valley Farms, we strictly follow the comprehensive agreements established for our farms and overseen by the FDA related to both disease prevention and salmonella testing – the strictest standards applied to any egg farm in the United States,” he said.

“It is our responsibility to ensure the eggs we produce are safe for consumers, and that the hens on our farms are well cared for and protected from disease. That is a commitment we take seriously.”

Currently, Wasmund faces up to five years in prison for violating the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

As the nation’s leading egg producer, Iowa has more than 50 million egg-laying hens that produce about 14 billion eggs per year.