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posted by martyb on Saturday July 08 2017, @11:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-hope-you're-not-eating-right-now dept.

AlterNet reports

On June 27, 2016, Jack and Peter DeCoster, former owners of a Quality Egg Co. (not kidding), were ordered to begin serving time in jail.

The pair previously had been sentenced to three months each in jail for their role in a salmonella poisoning outbreak in 2010. The culprits admitted to knowingly shipping eggs with false processing and expiration dates to fool state regulators and retail customers about their age, and to bribing a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspector at least twice to approve sales of poor-quality eggs.

In sentencing the egg operators, U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett said, "Given the defendants' careless oversight and repeated violations of safety standards, there is an increased likelihood that these offenses, or offenses like these, could happen again. The punishment will also serve to effectively deter against the marketing of unsafe foods and widespread harm to public health by similarly situated corporate officials and other executives in the industry." A "litany of shameful conduct" occurred under the DeCosters' watch, Judge Bennett told NBC News.

The Supreme Court refused1 to hear an appeal.

[...] for consumers and honest egg producers, the sentences are both long overdue, and far too weak given Quality Egg's history, which includes at least 10 deaths and 500 people made ill from salmonella-infected eggs produced by the DeCoster-owned egg operations.

[...] As early as 1982, at least one person had died from DeCoster eggs and in 1987, nine people died and 500 were sickened said authorities.

As is the case with most factory farmers, the DeCosters' food safety issues were inextricably linked to abuse of workers, animals, and the environment.

[...] In 1996, federal investigators found DeCoster workers living in rat- and cockroach-infested housing. The egg operation was fined $3.6 million. It was also cited for improper asbestos removal. "The conditions in this migrant farm site are as dangerous and oppressive as any sweatshop we have seen", said Labor Secretary Robert Reich at the time; "I thought I was going to faint and I was only there a few minutes", said Cesar Britos, an attorney representing DeCoster workers, after entering a barn.

[...] In 2009, state agriculture officials raided the same operation visited by Reich and Britos. They encountered ammonia fumes so noxious, four department workers had to be treated by doctors for burned lungs.

[...] After the raid, [Quality Egg's retailer customers] denied that they were associated with the company and few stores would admit receiving any of the 21 million eggs the company was known to ship each week. Retail supermarket chains Shaw's and Hannaford both denied doing business with Quality, even though the Sun Journal found eggs from the raided farm, stamped "1183" or "1203", at their stores. And Eggland's Best, which maintained three dedicated barns on the Quality Egg grounds according to an undercover Mercy For Animals (MFA) employee, denied doing business with Quality Egg--even though an Eggland's Best truck can be seen in the video of the raid!

[...] Despite a decades-long rap sheet, DeCoster expanded his egg empire into Iowa, Ohio, and Maryland with the help of Boston public relations guru George Regan. The DeCosters even added hogs to the mix.

1 Link in article appears to contain tracking data — removed by submitter. [Thanks! -Ed.]


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  • (Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 09 2017, @01:43AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 09 2017, @01:43AM (#536721)

    Before (and after) there was an Israel, many Jewish folk living in the region lives in what amounted to Socialist Communes. A number of their current corporations are directly descended from them, and a few supposedly still live on as they have for decades if not longer. Old school piracy (and perhaps even some modern piracy) qualifies as well. Plus many other places with either formal or informal communal ownership of their own means of production (whether built on social, religious, or simple necessity) grounds. Some is agriculture, some is industrial, some is multifaceted. The biggest issue, much like with family owned corporations is ensuring multiple generations of competent stewardship and the necessary visionaries to retain the resources necessary to continue functioning without selling off assets that will slowly lose them control of what had been attained for the group. Some less successful Amish and Mennonite communities are a good examples of the latter.

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  • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 09 2017, @01:49AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 09 2017, @01:49AM (#536722)

    You're an idiot.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 1) by darkpixel on Sunday July 09 2017, @02:26AM

    by darkpixel (4281) on Sunday July 09 2017, @02:26AM (#536727)

    See! Look here! It's my pet example of a socialist commune that is working! Please ignore the fact that everyone came her voluntarily and trust me that it will work when a gun is held to your head.