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Common Dreams reports
[April 17] the Food and Drug Administration issued a report[PDF] based on inspections of Rose Acre Farms from March 26-April 11, and a review of facility records from September 2017. On [April 13], Rose Acre Farms announced a recall of 206 million shell eggs after federal investigators found that illnesses in multiple states were linked to a strain of Salmonella that was found at the company's facility in North Carolina. The FDA report shows an "ongoing rodent infestation" at the facility and "insanitary conditions and poor employee practices" that allow for the spread of pathogens. The FDA had also previously found "alarmingly high rodent populations" and salmonella contamination at another facility owned by the company in 2011.
In response, Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter issued [a statement which included}:
"This most recent Salmonella outbreak resulting in a massive recall is another example of how the ultra-consolidated factory farm system can have major consequences for food safety. That one facility can so quickly supply so many stores with tainted food shows that we need more regulation, not less, of our food supply. And repeated violations over the years show that the company continues to act recklessly where food safety protocols are concerned."
Note that the recall is for "shell eggs".
It appears that processed foods in which eggs from this source have been used are not covered.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:23PM (4 children)
What kind of eggs? And do you have a source that indicates your preferred style of eggs has less fecal matter?
http://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/archive/hot_topics/families_and_consumers/purchasing_eggs.shtml [ufl.edu]
There's also "Pasture-raised", "free range", "free-roaming" which all appear to be unregulated terms.
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(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:31PM (3 children)
The terms are all bogus... and brown eggs hide the brown stains better. As for actual fecal content on the eggshells themselves, seeing the brown streaks is much worse than whatever is going on, or not, in reality.
Our local mega-chain (Publix) has secured "cage free" from some supplier for $2.69/doz, but those are very hit and miss on the shell strength, some are paper-thin, others are basically normal - and the weird part is: in my experience all the crappy paper-thin eggs are coming from one store, while another store in the same chain just 3 miles down the road consistently has "good eggs" in the same packaging. Why there's a difference between the stores I don't know - once is an anomaly, twice a coincidence, but this has gone on for over a year, roughly 50 dozen eggs from each store, and from one store I may have opened one carton with some thin-shelled eggs in it, whereas the other I'd be rejecting over half the cartons that come off the shelf for being broken, and even when I get them home the wife complains about the eggs collapsing from thin-shells when she cracks them (and I notice too...)
As for what kind? Chicken, usually Large (not extra large or Jumbo which tend to have more shell issues), generally white from Publix (for the $2.69 Cage Free in green styrofoam, or brown for $3.69 Cage Free in the yuppie targeted clear plastic), and generally brown from Trader Joes ($2.99 for Cage Free, or I think $1.69 for their "regular" brown eggs, both in pressed cardboard boxes.)
The brown streaks show up mostly on Publix's cheaper eggs, particularly their main-line bottom price stuff.
And, it's just eggs, there are more important things in life, but... when you consider that we're averaging over 240 eggs per year per person consumption, I do start to get concerned about all the myriad "trace amount" things that can be accumulating in our apex predator bodies.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aclarke on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:13PM (2 children)
Sounds like maybe you're getting real eggs. We have our own chickens. Some of the hens lay large brown eggs. Others lay small white ones. One used to lay an egg with a gross soft rubbery shell every couple weeks. Sometimes they're dirty when we pick them up.
The grocery store experience of most foods is quite at odds with the historical reality of food. All eggs do not look the same. Tomatoes are not always perfectly round, etc. I do agree though that if one is able to buy eggs for US$0.69 per dozen, that's an indication that something is very wrong.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday April 19 2018, @07:39PM
Have you seen a chicken factory? More to the point, have you smelled a chicken factory? Something is has been more than very wrong with chicken and pork production for a long time - it's highly cost optimized, we're eating more chicken and pork than ever for unbelievably low prices, and it's not all a good thing.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-is-china-treating-north-carolina-like-the-developing-world-w517973 [rollingstone.com]
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday April 19 2018, @07:42PM
They are sorted and graded, ensuring that the supermarket customer gets a consistent size. Eggs that don't make the cut can be used in liquid egg product, for example, or sold to commercial buyers.
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