The Wall Street Journal reports that the criminal division of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Justice Department "joined the probe of the Iowa farm at the heart of the recent egg recall linked to an outbreak of salmonella, according to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg."
The egg recall began on August 13, 2010 and involves over half a billion eggs from Iowa producers, Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. About 1,500 reported cases of salmonella enteritidis have been linked to tainted eggs since the spring of this year. For more background on the egg recall, click here and here for past US Ag&Food Law and Policy Blog posts on the subject.
Pat El-Hinnawy, FDA spokeswoman, said "that federal agents visited both Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms" on Tuesday. Dr. Hamburg said that FDA was working with the companies to "make sure that they clean up the subpar practices" and "that eggs do not go back in to the marketplace that are not safe."
Wright County Egg spokeswoman Hinda Mitchell said that the company is "cooperating fully" with FDA.
To read the Wall Street Journal story, click here.
Posted: 09/02/2010
