Tag Archives: Egg

Iowa Senator says market should punish egg violators; hard to tell eggs apart at retail

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I can get dolphin-free tuna and animal-friendly beef and table eggs raised under all kinds of conditions, but how can I avoid eggs from salmonella offenders? There’s so much reselling and rebranding at retail that the brand name is often meaningless.

Iowa Senator Chuck “Chuck” Grassley told Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register today that the government probably can’t shut down egg-beater Jack DeCoster short of finding criminal activity, but, “the marketplace is making the determination if the law doesn’t. Probably in this case the company may be hurt in the marketplace to the extent to which people are going to look and not buy eggs that have the word W-R-I-G-H-T on it,” referring to the name of Jack DeCoster’s Galt-based company, Wright County Egg.

Brasher notes though that DeCoster eggs have been packaged under a variety of names, including supermarket brands and the names of competing egg producers such as Sparboe Farms, who used Wright County Egg to augment their supplies.

Grassley also called on the Senate Democratic leadership to pass a food-safety bill that would increase the Food and Drug Administration’s oversight of other segments of the food industry, including fruit and vegetable production.
 

USA Today says egg recalls fit pattern of negligence, lax oversight; industry says, no

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He said, she said in today’s USA Today, with the editorial board saying the salmonella outbreak that has sickened thousands means “someone obviously fouled up,” and Indiana egg farmer and United Egg Producers chairman, Bob Krouse, saying “completely cooked eggs are completely safe eggs.”

Krouse: “Family farms like ours produce 80 billion eggs every year in this country, and we go to great lengths to help ensure the quality and safety of every one of them.”

USA Today: “The egg recall is part of a pattern. When problems emerge with America’s food supply or in other areas where safety is crucial, it often starts with a rogue company or CEO who sees safety violations as a cost of doing business and outmaneuvers federal regulators while Congress dithers.”

Krouse: “Our efforts must be having an effect because the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service estimates the risk of illness to be less than ‘1 in 1 million’ egg servings for the average consumer.”

USA Today: “There’s no excuse for contamination so widespread that it sickens nearly 1,500 people and requires the recall of more than half a billion eggs.”

Krouse: “Egg farmers invest millions of dollars each year in biosecurity and food safety efforts. The vast majority of us already incorporate vaccination programs into our food safety plans.”

USA Today: “Regulations requiring egg farm operators to test for salmonella stayed on the shelf through the notoriously anti-regulatory Bush administration until the Obama administration finally got them into place last month. The FDA says those rules could have prevented the outbreak, which presumes that farms would have complied — and that the FDA would have dogged them.”

Krouse: “It is disappointing to see some groups try to take advantage of this crisis for their own political or social agendas. We urge everyone to wait until the FDA finishes its investigation of the two companies involved before jumping to any conclusions. “

USA Today: “… instead of just writing up violations, it (FDA) needs to crack down on rogue companies, treating them the same way the criminal justice system treats repeat offenders.”
 

Would you really buy a used car from these people? Data needed to go along with egg safety advertizing

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Advertising Age reports the American Egg Board has taken out full-page ads in major newspapers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today to try and tamper down rising fears around America’s favorite breakfast food.

The ads call attention to the fact that "the potentially affected eggs, which make up less than 1% of all U.S. eggs, have been removed from store shelves" and end with the reminder that "thoroughly cooked means thoroughly safe." Consumers are driven from the print ads to a website, eggsafety.org.

What the ads do not talk about is risks of cross-contamination, as anyone who has cracked an egg into a bowl knows about.

Kevin Burkum, senior VP-marketing for the American Egg Board, told Ad Age the messages are "aimed at educating consumers on the safety of eggs and how to properly cook them." He added that the organization is also looking at expanding the print campaign to radio and digital efforts to get the message out.

As soon as any group talks about educating consumers, they’ve given up.

Instead, the egg folks should treat consumers like they may have a few functioning neurons, talk about salmonella testing data and sell safety directly to consumers at retail.
 

Who needs to be barfing because of raw eggs? Powell’s approach to raw egg dishes

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CNBC reports that experts have some simple advice when it comes to eating runny eggs these days: Run away.

With salmonella concerns triggering the recall of more than a half-billion eggs in more than a dozen states, warnings are becoming more dire every day against eating undercooked yolks and translucent egg whites.

But what’s a home cook to do, especially when hit by cravings for eggs Benedict, pasta carbonara, homemade Caesar dressing or other dishes that call for raw or only slightly cooked eggs?

Drinking raw eggs for a protein boost? Even worse idea, given the risk of salmonella and its violent nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and temporary residency in the bathroom.

"We’ve got enough issues. Who needs to be barfing because of raw eggs?" asked Douglas Powell, an associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University and author of BarfBlog.com, which highlights food-handling problems in the news and in popular culture.

He advises cooks to use a food thermometer in their frittatas, quiches and other egg dishes — and, in fact, when preparing meat or anything that poses dangers when undercooked.

Paul Stern, who cooks for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, an Ashford, Conn., camp for seriously ill children, many with compromised immune systems, said this year, the camp switched (before the recall) to pasteurized liquid egg product.

"I wouldn’t be consuming or serving raw eggs any more than I’d be eating or serving raw chicken."
 

Nuevo Folleto Informativo: Cientos de enfermos con Salmonella Enteriditis; brote nacional a causa de huevos

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Traducido por Gonzalo Erdozain

Resumen del folleto informativo mas reciente:

– El brote, que causó cientos de enfermedades, empezó en Mayo y aún sigue vigente.
– Alrededor de 228 millones de huevos han sido retirados del Mercado por Wright County Egg de Galt, Iowa

– El retiro del mercado incluye huevos en sus cáscaras empacadas por Wright County Egg entre el 16 de Mayo y el 13 de Agosto.

– Los huevos pueden contener Salmonella y deben ser cocinados a 145°F por 15 segundos para reducir los riesgos.

– Los huevos deben ser almacenados en la heladera y mantenidos a temperaturas de 45°F

Los folletos informativos son creados semanalmente y puestos en restaurantes, tiendas y granjas, y son usados para entrenar y educar a través del mundo. Si usted quiere proponer un tema o mandar fotos para los folletos, contacte a Ben Chapman a benjamin_chapman@ncsu.edu.

Puede seguir las historias de los folletos informativos y barfblog en twitter
@benjaminchapman y @barfblog.
 

FDA chief says farms fell short on egg safety

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The companies that have recalled more than half a billion eggs following a salmonella outbreak fell short of safety standards at their farms, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told CNN Sunday, adding

"There’s no question these farms involved in the recall were not operating with the standards of practice we consider responsible.”

She said "about 1,000" people have been sickened by a salmonella outbreak that federal regulators have traced back to two Iowa egg producers. One of those companies said Sunday it is "devastated" by the possible connection between its product and salmonella.

Hillandale Farms said it shared "a number of common suppliers" with Wright County Egg, including a company called Quality Egg, which provided feed and young birds.

Both Wright County and Quality Egg are owned by the DeCoster family, which has a string of agribusiness interests in the Midwest and Northeast. Those companies’ records have come under new scrutiny since the recalls were announced earlier this month.

The Washington Post reports that in the past 20 years, according to the public record, the DeCoster family operation, one of the 10 largest egg producers in the country, has withstood a string of reprimands, penalties and complaints about its performance in several states.

In June, for instance, the family agreed to pay a $34,675 fine stemming from allegations of animal cruelty against hens in its 5 million-bird Maine facility. An animal rights group used a hidden camera to document hens suffocating in garbage cans, twirled by their necks , kicked into manure pits to drown and hanging by their feet over conveyer belts.

And today’s USA Today reports that to some experts, the huge recall of potentially contaminated eggs is a testament to how the industry has grown from many small producers to large industrial farms.

The problem, many food safety experts say, is that even as eggs moved to a very intense production method with enormous companies and huge flocks, regulation was almost entirely lacking.

In 1999, President Clinton vowed to increase regulation and wipe out the disease in eggs by 2010. Instead, the industry and FDA delayed the creation of the rules, finally written in 2004.
 

Undercooked eggs in rattlesnake cake linked to salmonella outbreak at fancy Colorado restaurant; dozens sick

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I don’t know what rattlesnake cake is but like other cakes, it contains eggs – eggs that need to be cooked to reduce the risk of salmonella.

CBS4 in Denver reports more than two dozen people who ate at The Fort in Morrison, Colorado, last month got sick (there’s a photo gallery and it apparently involves patrons wearing hats).

Officials believe it was caused by undercooking eggs — in particular for one specialty of the house. So far there are eight confirmed cases of salmonella and 20 listed as probable.

The Fort is designed like, uh, a fort from the 1800s and its cuisine reflects the period. In 1997 at the Summit of the Eight, then President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin were among those who dined there.

According to the menu, the “Diamondback Rattlesnake Cake (similar to a crab cake) topped with a sweet and spicy avacodo relish and cilantro micro greens, served with Dixon chile aoli. $25 (subject to availability).”

Dr. Mark Johnson, Jefferson County Health executive director, said

"Testing did show that the batter that was used in preparation of one of the foods did have eggs in it that did test positive for the same type salmonella that the case had."

The restaurant quickly removed the item from its menu, but one person CBS4 spoke to who did not eat the rattlesnake cakes became ill with the salmonella bacteria and had to be hospitalized several days.

Through reservations the Jefferson County Health Department tracked down some 90 people who dined at the restaurant. It did not issue a public warning and the restaurant was not closed.

Holly Arnold Kinney, who describes herself as the Proprietress of The Fort Restaurant, said in a statement,

"Our deepest sympathy goes out to our customers who were affected by this illness. We hold the highest standards and consider each customer a guest in our home, The Fort. These were isolated confirmed cases of food borne illness. The one food item suspected was immediately removed from our menu. We are working closely with the Jefferson County Health Department adhering to all recommendations to make our preparation of food as safe as possible. There are no other concerns. I’m sorry we are not able to provide you with an on-air interview. Contact the Jefferson County Health Department for any other information."

The Proprietress scores well for a strong opening statement of empathy but low for the fluff about standards, especially if 27 people are barfing and especially if the cause is something as routine as eggs. The Proprietress demonstrates how the rattlesnake cakes are made on The Today show, below, in April.
 

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3 Irish children sick with Salmonella after licking the spoon

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I have fond memories of licking the beaters while mom was making cake and frosting.

But, then I learned about salmonella in raw eggs, and became more cautious around my own kids – but not completely. Admittedly, the risk is low; the risk is much greater when eggs are pooled to make large batches of cakes or sauces.

(In that pic, right, which I lifted from the Internet, I’d be more concerned about the kid’s dirty diaper on the food preparation surface).

Independent.ie reported this morning that three children in Ireland have contracted Salmonella Typhimurium DT8 after licking the spoon used in baking or cooking with duck eggs.

They are among seven people who have been diagnosed with one of the more severe strains of the bug in an outbreak linked to contaminated duck eggs.

Dr Paul McKeown of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, said yesterday,

"Many children love to lick the cake or food mixture from the spoon during baking and unfortunately in this outbreak it has probably resulted in some falling ill."

Pasteurized eggs are widely available for home cooks now and always an option.

Gratuitous food porn shot of the day: duck egg omelet

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My friend and colleague, Kate, has a dozen ducks out at her Kansas compound.

Better than my Guelph friend Steve who at one point had 17 horses and still has four kids living at home even though the oldest is 22.

Kate brought some duck eggs over the other day and I made an omelet with them this fine and sunny Sunday morning.
 

Farm fresh eggs not Salmonella-free; amplifying risk at restaurants

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CNBC ran a feature about raw eggs in recipes today that contained some food safety nose-stretchers.

On the plus side, the story acknowledged that raw eggs can carry salmonella, and when Catherine Donnelly, a professor of food safety at the University of Vermont, said that adults may get sick from salmonella, but are unlikely to die, the story said,

“not dying is a pretty low bar to set for dinner.”

Charles Reeves, chef and owner of Penny Cluse Cafe, a restaurant in Burlington, Vt., known for its from-scratch breakfasts and lunches, said,

"You can’t own a restaurant and call yourself a chef if you’re using mayonnaise out of a bottle. It’s just too easy to make it better yourself."

Though his customers’ safety is a primary concern, Reeves doesn’t think twice about using raw eggs, including serving them over easy and sunny side up.

"You just always have to use absolutely fresh eggs that come from a reputable source," he says.

A reputable source with those superhero Salmonella goggles?

Todd Pritchard, a food scientist at the University of Vermont, said farm fresh doesn’t necessarily mean bacteria free, adding,

"Bacteria are blind. They don’t see whether the eggs come from a local farmer or are free-range or organic."

That’s of no concern to Nancy Oakes, a James Beard award-winning chef and owner of San Francisco’s Boulevard Restaurant who calls the raw egg a "simply magical food."

At Boulevard, Oakes creates aiolis with raw egg yolk, and accompanies her Caesar salad with a soft-cooked egg on the side. She says safety efforts focus too much on the kitchen, and not enough on the farms where the eggs are produced.

The story concludes that for adult home cooks in good health, the minute risk of being sickened may be worth the joy of soft boiled eggs or homemade mayo. Ditto when dining out.

That’s not true.

The American Egg Board estimates the risk of an egg being contaminated with salmonella at about 1 in 20,000. So at home, if I make mayo, or dip into the pancake batter, I’ve upped the risk to 5-6 out of 20,000. If a restaurant is making mayo or aioli, dozens if not hundreds of eggs could be used, cross-contaminating the kitchen area and potentially sickening thousands of people daily.

That’s how 111 people got sick with Salmonella from The Burger Bar in Albury, Australia in Jan. 2010. It was the raw egg in the aioli.

Risk gets amplified real easily.

Pritchard also points out that while it’s true that the likelihood of being sickened by an egg is low, it doesn’t matter, if you’re the one who gets sick.

Especially if it is preventable.