Egg Recall

[chefrob]

 Sounds like lots of blaming the other person or agency with none of them actually doing their job and of course the farm itself being the biggest part of the problem

you remember the game as a kid.........it's called hot pota.........i mean who's the rotten egg.

 

[ak1]

I'd say the FDA works. I would be very concerned about our food without it. Tragedies like this one would be far more common if farmers weren't forced to spend money on making food safer.

It's all about responsibility.  If farmers followed FDA regulation *to the letter* instead of cutting corners just to cut costs, then things like this wouldn't happen. Know your farmer. Know how he/she treats her chickens. If you don't know where your food came from, then you take the risk of not knowing whether or not that farm is producing food products that are safe to eat.

I love my soft poached eggs, but I didn't feel comfortable eating them when I was pregnant. I simply did not trust it enough. I have to be responsible too.

-Princess

 

I think what you'll find is that the vast majority of the time the issue isn't the farmers, but the processors. 

 

[princess]

Point taken. Pretend my whole post replaces all instances of "farmers" with "farmers/processors." 

Regardless, they (and the FDA, and the USDA) all need to be doing the job better!!  You know, I know plenty of good workers who are currently unemployed who would LOVE the chance to do a job right and do a job well. Maybe the FDA and USDA could hire them!!

-Princess

I think what you'll find is that the vast majority of the time the issue isn't the farmers, but the processors. 

 

[alblancher]

This whole who did what thing reminds me of every modern disaster that I have personally experienced.  Katrina, the recent oil spill, the mine disaster, this egg recall.  The one common thread is that someone can point their finger at someone else and say "if they had done their job my incompetence would not have been the reason for the disaster".  This is a sad statement of our society and ourselves.  Last week my loving wife was cutting grass on our new riding mower and caught up some bird netting in the blades, this was after I picked it all up and placed it in the driveway.  Her first words where "it's not my fault".  After I came back to earth I calmly

 explained to her that it "was her fault".   Later she came to her senses and admitted that if she had not tried to cut the driveway that close to the netting I wouldn't have had to spend 2 hours taking apart the mower deck. I can work with and understand people that are courageous enough to admit that they made a mistake.

 

[bpopovitz]

Heard this morning on NPR that the Senate is going to introduce a new food bill.  Sounds to me like we dont need new rules just someone in the USDA and the FDA need to follow and enforce the rules we already have....

 

[rowdyrawhide]

Yeah sounds like the FDA dropped the ball on this one and went crying to congress saying they need more power.  

  As you stated already they need to enforce the rules already in place. 

 

[pineywoods]

Oh before its over they'll probably create a whole new agency to screw things up even worse. It couldn't be so simple as a single agency that actually does its job can it?

 

[coffee_junkie]

I'd say the FDA works. I would be very concerned about our food without it. Tragedies like this one would be far more common if farmers weren't forced to spend money on making food safer.

It's all about responsibility.  If farmers followed FDA regulation *to the letter* instead of cutting corners just to cut costs, then things like this wouldn't happen. Know your farmer. Know how he/she treats her chickens. If you don't know where your food came from, then you take the risk of not knowing whether or not that farm is producing food products that are safe to eat.

I love my soft poached eggs, but I didn't feel comfortable eating them when I was pregnant. I simply did not trust it enough. I have to be responsible too.

-Princess

 

I agree, it should be the peoples responsibility, not the GOVT. If we all starting eating more sustainable foods, and actually knew where our food was coming from (not just from some box store) then these issues would be greatly reduced. I buy all my meat from a farm down the road, or kill it myself. My eggs come from my back yard, my produce comes from there also. The only thing I cant get local is most fruits and nuts, which I buy organic from a trusted source. People need to stop leaning on the government to fix things that is not their job......it is the peoples.
 

 

[ak1]

This whole who did what thing reminds me of every modern disaster that I have personally experienced.  Katrina, the recent oil spill, the mine disaster, this egg recall.  The one common thread is that someone can point their finger at someone else and say "if they had done their job my incompetence would not have been the reason for the disaster".  This is a sad statement of our society and ourselves.  Last week my loving wife was cutting grass on our new riding mower and caught up some bird netting in the blades, this was after I picked it all up and placed it in the driveway.  Her first words where "it's not my fault".  After I came back to earth I calmly

 explained to her that it "was her fault".   Later she came to her senses and admitted that if she had not tried to cut the driveway that close to the netting I wouldn't have had to spend 2 hours taking apart the mower deck. I can work with and understand people that are courageous enough to admit that they made a mistake.

It was your fault for not putting the netting far enough away from the edge of the driveway

I say that tongue in cheek, but it illustrates how these various agencies work. It seems to me that they all just look within their jurisdiction, and miss the big picture, then try to blame others when things go wrong.

Don't worry, this isn't unique to the US, we have the same here in Canada.
 

 

[ak1]

I agree, it should be the peoples responsibility, not the GOVT. If we all starting eating more sustainable foods, and actually knew where our food was coming from (not just from some box store) then these issues would be greatly reduced. I buy all my meat from a farm down the road, or kill it myself. My eggs come from my back yard, my produce comes from there also. The only thing I cant get local is most fruits and nuts, which I buy organic from a trusted source. People need to stop leaning on the government to fix things that is not their job......it is the peoples.
 

I do agree with you, but like you I have that option. Unfortunately, not everybody has that option.

That's where this whole regulation thing comes into play. If I don't have the option of going to a farmer, or local packer, I should be able to go to the local supermarket, etc, and be able to buy a piece of meat that I'm sure is safe.
 

 

[bbally]

I agree, it should be the peoples responsibility, not the GOVT. If we all starting eating more sustainable foods, and actually knew where our food was coming from (not just from some box store) then these issues would be greatly reduced. I buy all my meat from a farm down the road, or kill it myself. My eggs come from my back yard, my produce comes from there also. The only thing I cant get local is most fruits and nuts, which I buy organic from a trusted source. People need to stop leaning on the government to fix things that is not their job......it is the peoples.
 

I am not for more government regulation.  But we do need a place that collects information to analyse what safety systems work and what fails.  It is not possible to expect a population as large as the USA's to understand food chain safety to a level when less then 4.2 percent of the population works to feed the entire population with a surplus.  Best Practices and regulations insuring best practices are the only way.  Cause when it fails 750 million eggs are out there.... so immediate reaction to a failure of the food safety system is always required to ensure an improving and safe food supply system.  To ignore those failures is to put people at risk.  Especially people with know real knowledge of the food supply chain.

 

[wngsprnt50]

550,000,000 eggs (so far)....1,300 reported illness cases...  Math says .0236%  or 1 in 5,000 or 1 egg of every 417 dozen of the eggs have caused a problem so far.   I certainly don't want to make light of the situation, but I almost feel like the media and such is really hyping this for the story.  and it can be resolved, even though many folks do not like thoroughly cooked eggs...me being one of them....by simply cooking them through (per USDA guidelines)!  I have asked about it at a few breakfast establishments as to their source, and if it was in doubt I would have probably ordered something else.  people get salmonellla from lots of places....every year there is a big turtle display at our local fair, "come pet the turtles", and a few always end up sick.  Common sense reigns supreme here too...wash the hands! 

 

[meateater]

Heard this morning on NPR that the Senate is going to introduce a new food bill.  Sounds to me like we dont need new rules just someone in the USDA and the FDA need to follow and enforce the rules we already have....

Great, just what we need! Now there food experts as well as economists! Lord help us! What don't they know?

 

[the dude abides]

Oh let me guess..Food Czar?

 

[monty]

Well, folks, it has been a while since I been around and it seems that I must contrubute to a subject near and dear to me. First of all, and this is just my two cents, any carrying on and commenting here in the forum is just plain lost. Why not write, email or call the show's producer when you disagree with content provided by the star?

And, better yet, those folks depend on advertising to pay the bills. Contact their sponsors and let them know you are displeased with the content provided and that you will not purchase their products unless or until there are changes made. Hit'em im the wallet to get their attention.

I do agree that we should publish here that we have found some errors, in our opinion, committed on these shows. We do have a responsibility to our membership, our family, to see that the record is straight. But if we want to go for blood, spill it in the proper direction and go to the source. Till that happenes nothing happens!

I produce a large amount of eggs which I sell locally and every single egg is inspected and all are sanitized by curent standards and I am proud that we put out a good safe product to our friends, neighbors and especially for ourselves. Now, if someone was to claim that one of my farm's eggs caused illness to someone and only published that in a letter to the editor of a newspaper which I do not read where's the benefit? My address and phone number is on every carton of eggs that goes outta here. I have yet to have a complaint and I have to reasonably assume that all is well with my customers. The fact that demand outstrips my production capacity at the moment speaks for itself.

Hope I have made a sensible point here.

Cheers!

Monty  

 

[eman]

Well , looks like they heve traced the illness back to contaminated feed.  (per news blurb on local news).

 Now i have never raised fowl ,But seems to me that if its the feed then it doesn't matter how clean and sanitary you facilities are you still have the bacteria in your birds and eggs (from the feed) Wrong or right???

 

[Bearcarver]

Well , looks like they heve traced the illness back to contaminated feed.  (per news blurb on local news).

 Now i have never raised fowl ,But seems to me that if its the feed then it doesn't matter how clean and sanitary you facilities are you still have the bacteria in your birds and eggs (from the feed) Wrong or right???

I think I heard something about rat or mouse droppings in their feed. Then the bad stuff gets into the chicken & her eggs, AND the chicken droppings. Then the other chickens eat that & it just keeps on going.

I think we should feed them Tender Quick. Then the chickens & their eggs would be pre-cured. Save a lot of steps at our end, if you want to smoke 'em low & slow!

Bear

 

[alblancher]

I look forward to learning more about this once they get a better handle on the problem.  Seems to me that bacteria on the feed would be destroyed, isolated by the chicken's digestive system or the chicken would be sick from the salmonella.   If the bad bugs pass through the chicken still viable and gets on the eggs as the chicken defecates then the problem is that the eggs where not properly washed.  If the feed produced salmonella laden dust that got deposited on the outside of the chicken and onto the eggs there again we go to improper washing of the eggs before packaging.

If the eggshell is permeable to the bacteria infections could get into the edible portion of the eggs possibly making washing ineffective.

Do we have reports of the chickens being sick?  Are chickens not affected by salmonella?

This whole thing just sounds like the final answers haven't been determined yet.  Trying to understand how a bacteria laden feed can affect the edible portion of the egg.

Al

 

[squirrel]

Sure does make me happy that I raise my own!

 

[bbally]

Sure does make me happy that I raise my own!

Couple barred rocks?