How bad is Iowa’s egg industry crisis? Mexico this week halted imports of Iowa eggs because of safety concerns.
The place that advises tourists not to drink tap water has banned Iowa eggs for health reasons. Mexico is the largest importer of U.S. chickens and enacted the ban after a turkey production plant in Buena Vista County reported avian flu and destroyed 27,000 turkeys. Then an egg production plant in Osceola County reported the flu and destroyed 5.7 million hens.
The rest of Iowa’s egg producers are stepping up precautions to stop this infection that doesn’t hurt humans, but can devastate commercial flocks in days.
All this follows criminal convictions and prison sentences for one of Iowa’s largest egg producers. Austin "Jack" DeCoster and his son Peter, 51, were accused of altering records to sell eggs that caused a widespread salmonella outbreak in 2010. Their deliberate deceit caused 1,939 confirmed infections of humans. The Centers for Disease Control estimated the DeCosters could have sickened up to 56,000 others. The DeCosters’ actions led to the largest egg recall in U.S. history.
A federal judge in Sioux City this month issued three-month prison terms and fined both DeCosters $100,000 each. Their company, Quality Egg, was fined $6.79 million after pleading guilty to bribing a federal inspector and other charges.
The severe penalties follow a 2010 salmonella outbreak on the DeCosters’ Maryland and Maine operations. That prompted former Iowa Gov. Chet Culver to initiate specific Iowa inspection reforms to keep the DeCosters and other lousy operators from ruining the Iowa egg business.
Gov. Terry Branstad scrapped all of those reforms, allowing Iowa egg producers to avoid mandatory reporting of suspected salmonella, and halting creation of lab testing standards and training standards that might have stopped the DeCosters before they sickened thousands. Preventing this month’s avian flu outbreak is beyond the influence of this governor, or the last. But clearly, this important ag industry will need state help to recover.
