The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a stern warning to a supposed cage-free eggs producer, who was forced to suspend operations last December and subsequently recalled eggs associated with Salmonella Enteritis disease in January this year.
Although the issues related to this solitary egg producer, Good Earth Egg Co., is not the prevailing trend in the United States, the warning letter issued by the FDA to the producer last month exposes the food safety problems associated with "cage-free" eggs.
The FDA has expressed concerns over the conditions in which the producer raised cage-free eggs. The location was "contaminated with filth," as no effort was made to clean or disinfect the place. In addition, the facility also lacked proper refrigeration. What is worse is that the producer failed to undertake environmental testing or biosecurity initiatives with a view to check Salmonella Enteritis from spreading, Food Safety News reported quoting the FDI warning letter.
Last year, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services had directed the Good Earth Egg Co., which provided cage-free eggs to the St. Louis metropolitan area, to shut down its operations. Substantiating the closure order, the department stated that they had detected Salmonella infections in the facility.
Despite the state's directive for remediating and re-sampling of its product, the company never issued a recall. However, the company eventually issued a recall of all eggs it had sold by Feb. 5 after it was found that eggs from Good Earth were associated with Salmonella diseases.
The term cage-free does not denote that the hens are not confined in a cage. On the contrary, this term refers to hens that are confined in a large area, allowing them sufficient space move freely without coming in contact with one another or the fences of the enclosure.
The FDA said that they found several violations at the Good Earth Egg Co. that are enough to believe that the company's shell eggs were adulterated and may possibly be "injurious to health." It further said that the company does not have a plan to prevent Salmonella Enteritis, which is mandatory by law.
Meanwhile, ever since the FDI imposed stringent conditions to control Salmonella Enteritis in table eggs some five years back, most egg producers using tight as well as loose confinement systems did not pass the agency's inspections. Moreover, there is some proof that suggests that it is easier to control pathogens when hens lay eggs in closer confinement.
