The Salmonella-In-Eggs Situation Gets Worse

[marmar]

via AlterNet:




Posted by Marion Nestle at 6:29 pm
August 20, 2010

The Salmonella-In-Eggs Situation Gets Worse
Posted by Marion Nestle on @ 6:29 pm


Cross-posted from Food Politics.

Judging from the number of interview requests today, everyone has figured out that the egg recall is not only awful for the people who got sick but also has something to do with our hopelessly inadequate food safety system and dysfunctional Congress.

The CDC has updated its statistics on the number of illnesses. Here’s what this epidemic looks like:



About 2,000 cases have been reported but the CDC does not yet know whether these are all related to this particular outbreak.

Here’s what’s special about this particular recall:

* Salmonella in eggs never used to be a problem until we had industrial egg production that puts hundreds of thousands of hens in close (very close) proximity.
* The company producing these particular eggs has a long history of rule violations.
* The company was not required to follow standard food safety plans. Whatever it had to do was voluntary.
* The FDA started writing rules for safe egg production more than 10 years ago. These were quashed. It finally got them done last July.
* The new safety rules for eggs went into effect this July 9, too late to prevent this outbreak.
* The FDA’s hands are tied by inadequate legislation and resources.

* The House passed legislation last August—one year ago—to give the FDA more authority and more resources. The Senate has been sitting on S.510 ever since.

The moral? Voluntary doesn’t work. We need mandatory food safety rules.

And sooner rather than later, no?



http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/08/20/the-salmonella-in-eggs-situation-gets-worse/

[Parche]

1. Salmonilla causes Eggscrutiating pain.....

Eggsactly what I dont want to get from eating eggs..................

[marmar]

2. There's no eggscuse for that pun.

nt

[Parche]

4. Eggselent post....!!!!!!

:woohoo::hi:

[hlthe2b]

15. I had an eggcellent omelet this morning.. No worries--fully cooked

;)

[mindwalker_i]

16. This whole thing's ovablown

If people are cracking jokes, I need to get in on the action.

[bluestateguy]

3. I'm hoping this story will knock the "Ground Zero Mosque" out of the headlines

As it should given it is a more serious matter.

[madokie]

5. But the mosque is about muslins

silly rabbit, just funnin you Bluestateguy, but serious about the rest of what I said though.

[Hekate]

8. Turned on CNN a couple of times today. First it was the "mosque" and then bedbugs.

Bush/Cheney and the Repubs in general set us back a full century as regards food safety.

[Critters2]

19. Yeah. CNN is quite upset about the bedbug thing. nt

[Bitwit1234]

6. I got it!! I got it!! Lets just tell republicans to "go suck eggs"

you know so much truth in that saying. Give Palin, Rush, Beck and Fox the whole darn box.

[Hekate]

9. Now THAT is a plan!

:toast:

[Strelnikov_]

7. Atlas Shrugged n/t

[kestrel91316]

10. As I type this I am hard-boiling the last of my eggs from Whole Foods.

Even though they are supposedly "packed" in CA, there is no way to know where they were PRODUCED. If there's a way to confuse people and mislead them, corporations will find it and do it.

[mrs_p]

11. salmonella is endemic in chickens

and, while it is definitely worse in factory-farmed chickens, i just can't believe that salmonella was NEVER a problem in the past.

otherwise, excellent post, and i completely agree that we need safe food.

[another saigon]

20. I agree

Isn't the reason mayonnaise(which contains eggs)in cold salads is considered at risk if not refrigerated?

[Turbineguy]

12. Un euf

is un euf!

[flvegan]

13. :groooaaaan:

Oh, that was bad. Tres bad.

[marmar]

14. Isn't it oeuf?

[Turbineguy]

21. Oh you are correct!

My French isn't what it used to be. But then it's been 46 years.

[Agony]

17. "The moral? Voluntary doesn’t work." Neither does the Senate.

" The House passed legislation last August—one year ago—to give the FDA more authority and more resources. The Senate has been sitting on S.510 ever since."

[madrchsod]

18. my brand is "phil eggs"- never caged!

plus you can drive by his farm and see it`s a good place to raise chickens...

[AnArmyVeteran]

Conservatives are against recalls and government inspections.

Conservatives believe all government is evil and unnecessary, except to kill, torture, destroy and mutilate. They are against all regulations. So they would be against the FDA and any inspections of our food supply. They would let companies police themselves and since every business tries to maximize profits they would deliberately ship tainted food, like eggs, to the consumer. And they wouldn't have to worry about being sued by those they victimized because conservatives also believe in tough tort reform to limit liability to any corporation. Hell, they are probably against all laws and regulations to ensure our food is safe.

I wonder why conservatives are so radically opposed to any regulations. They must have families and loved ones who would face terrible dangers if regulations didn't force corporations to comply to certain standards. I suppose they don't give a damn about anyone, even their families who would be injured or killed by defective products or tainted foods.

In 2000, Bush the candidate said, "Businesses MUST be allowed to regulate themselves!" so according to Bush and all conservatives then businesses would be totally in charge of regulating themselves, just as BP was and just as the egg companies are. What a nightmare world we would live in under conservative rule.

[AnArmyVeteran]

22. Conservatives are against recalls and government inspections.

Conservatives believe all government is evil and unnecessary, except to kill, torture, destroy and mutilate. They are against all regulations. So they would be against the FDA and any inspections of our food supply. They would let companies police themselves and since every business tries to maximize profits they would deliberately ship tainted food, like eggs, to the consumer. And they wouldn't have to worry about being sued by those they victimized because conservatives also believe in tough tort reform to limit liability to any corporation. Hell, they are probably against all laws and regulations to ensure our food is safe.

I wonder why conservatives are so radically opposed to any regulations. They must have families and loved ones who would face terrible dangers if regulations didn't force corporations to comply to certain standards. I suppose they don't give a damn about anyone, even their families who would be injured or killed by defective products or tainted foods.

In 2000, Bush the candidate said, "Businesses MUST be allowed to regulate themselves!" so according to Bush and all conservatives then businesses would be totally in charge of regulating themselves, just as BP was and just as the egg companies are. What a nightmare world we would live in under conservative rule.

[pipoman]

23. The first couple of lines make me snicker..

also has something to do with our hopelessly inadequate food safety system and dysfunctional Congress.

The CDC has updated its statistics on the number of illnesses. Here’s what this epidemic looks like

Salmonella in eggs is universally and world wide expected and always has been, at least since such things have been known,,,100 or so years. As with every single time a band wagon pulls through town, a bunch of people jump on, it happens every time, so the numbers of claimed illnesses is undoubtedly skewed. It doesn't matter where you get your shell eggs...the neighbor, farmers market, whole foods, grocery, restaurant...there are only 3 ways to be almost completely without risk of salmonella when eating eggs in the shell..

1. Don't eat eggs.

2. Cook your eggs to an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

3. Buy pasteurized eggs in the shell.

That's it.

[WinkyDink]

24. How about the products with these eggs as ingredients?

[pipoman]

25. These eggs are fine if cooked completely.

[bvar22]

26. Not just eggs.

The entire Factory Food Production and Delivery System is hopelessly contaminated, and getting worse.


Good Luck!