FDA Looks for Salmonella Contamination Clues at Two Iowa Egg Farms
Investigations have found 25 cases in 10 states since April.
Compiled by staff
Published: Aug 25, 2010
More than a dozen Food and Drug Administration investigators are at two Iowa-based egg farms trying to figure out what caused a massive outbreak of salmonella in shell eggs. Together Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms have voluntarily recalled 550 million eggs.
Sherri McGarry, Emergency Coordinator of FDA's Center for Food Safety, says the on-site investigation involves sampling, records review and looking for potential sources of contamination.
"Some of those investigative efforts include looking at an environmental assessment of the farm conditions including pest and rodent control, sanitary conditions, potential feed sources and bio-security plans that need to be in place," McGarry said. "These are all aspects of our current investigation that is quite extensive and involves quite a bit of resources."
Federal officials aren't saying what their investigation has turned up so far, but do say there's no evidence that the outbreak has spread beyond the two Iowa farms. They expect to learn of more cases of salmonella in coming weeks because of the two-to-three-week lag time between people's exposure to salmonella and the formal reports to government health authorities.
Dr. Christopher Braden is a Centers for Disease Control epidemiologist involved in the investigation and says investigations by public health officials in 10 states since April have found 25 restaurants or events where more than one ill person with the outbreak strain has eaten.
"Data from these investigations suggest that shell eggs are a likely source of infections in many of these restaurants or events," Braden said. "Preliminary information indicates that Wright Country Eggs in Gault, Iowa was an egg supplier in 15 of these 25 cases."
Wright County Egg is one of the ten largest U.S. egg producers and ships to food wholesalers, distribution centers and foodservice companies in eight states that distribute nationwide.
Permalink: Click here
Tagged: farm, Food and Drug Administration, FDA
|