More Salmonella-Tainted Eggs from Austin "Jack" DeCoster

I hate to break it to you, but there's more bad news about bad eggs. Just three months since Wright County Egg and Hillendale Farms recalled more than 550 million potentially contaminated eggs, America is caught in the midst of another salmonella scandal. Foodborne illness is concerning enough, but to make matters worse, the culprits here are the same folks responsible for producing the first batch of bacteria-laden ovas.

Cal-Maine Foods, the country's leading egg seller and distributor, announced yesterday that it would recall 288,000 eggs after Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials alerted the company that its supplier, Ohio Fresh Eggs, tested positive for salmonella. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the eggs were distributed to wholesalers and retailers in Arkansas, California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Omelet-eaters are understandably ticked off, but the real kicker is that the folks who hatched this summer's crop of salmonella-tainted eggs also have their hands in Ohio Fresh Eggs' offending ovas. The Ohio egg farm is co-owned by Orland Bethel. Bethel is also the owner of Hillendale Farms, one of two Iowa egg producers fingered for this summer's salmonella outbreak. Austin "Jack" DeCoster owns Wright County Egg, the other egg producer that churned out salmonella-tainted eggs this summer. In 2003, DeCoster invested $125 million in Ohio Fresh Eggs, and according to the Ohio Agriculture Department, DeCoster still invests in the operation as of earlier this year. Looks like the baddest eggs in this situation are Bethel and DeCoster.

This recent outbreak certainly makes Bethel a repeat offender, but at least Hillendale Farms cleaned up its act after this summer's outbreak. DeCoster still hasn't sufficiently spruced up his egg operations — just last month, the FDA issued him yet another warning, citing sanitation violations at his Iowa hen houses.

It's not like these two salmonella outbreaks are isolated incidents for DeCoster, either. The factory farm overlord has a bad rep dating back to the 1980s. DeCoster's farm operations have been linked to several foodborne illness outbreaks over the years, including incidents at a nursing home and hospital. Health infractions are just a drop in the bucket for DeCoster — his production sites across the country have been cited for environmental, animal welfare, labor, and immigration violations. Supervisors at one of DeCoster's operations even reportedly raped five undocumented workers.

Despite breaking rule after rule after rule for decades, DeCoster continues to sit at the helm of America's food production system. DeCoster and unscrupulous owners like him get off with little more than a small fine and a slap on the wrist, then go back to churning out tainted foods. DeCoster may be the one doing all the violating, but it's consumers who are doing the suffering. The FDA needs to finally step up and take these producers to task for their consistent negligence and wrongdoing. Sign our petition asking FDA officials to stop giving DeCoster second (and third and fourth) chances. His egg operations need to be shut down immediately.

Photo credit: RMT via Flickr