Federal prosecutors have reportedly filed criminal charges against Iowa-based Quality Egg LLC and two former company executives—Austin “Jack” DeCoster and his son Peter—over a 2010 Salmonella outbreak that sickened thousands across the country and resulted in the recall of some 550 million eggs. United States v. Quality Egg, LLC, No. 14-cr-3024 (N.D. Iowa, filed May 21, 2014). The charging document, which brings two felony counts of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce against the company and related misdemeanor charges against the DeCosters, alleges that the company sold tainted eggs from early 2010 until the August recall. According to news sources, the DeCosters are expected to enter guilty pleas on June 3, 2014, as part of a plea agreement that ends the four-year investigation. The charging document alleges that the company sold products with labels making “the eggs appear to be not as old as they actually were” from 2006 to 2010,…
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Missouri Attorney General (AG) Chris Koster has sued California AG Kamala Harris, seeking to enjoin the enforcement of a voter-approved ballot initiative (Prop. 2) and law (A.B. 1437) that will increase the size of egg-laying hen enclosures and decrease flock densities both for California producers and those in other states wishing to sell eggs in California. Missouri ex rel. Koster v. Harris, No. 14-0067 (E.D. Cal., filed February 3, 2014). According to the complaint, Missouri egg farmers will be forced under the law to “incur massive capital improvement costs to build larger habitats for some or all of Missouri’s seven million egg-laying hens, or they can walk away from the state whose consumers bought one third of all eggs produced in Missouri last year. The first option will raise the cost of eggs in Missouri and make them too expensive to export to any state other than California. The second…
A recent Alternet.org article titled “23 Gallons a Day from One Cow? Industrial Agriculture Engaged in Extreme Breeding,” has questioned the longstanding practice of selectively breeding livestock to produce animals that are highly efficient and productive. While acknowledging that “breeding animals to exaggerate traits humans find useful is hardly new,” author Jill Richardson claims that industrial agriculture has taken the practice to new extremes that compromise the ability of animals to live natural lives. “Some of these changes are a result of growth hormones, lighting, feed, and (for dairy cows) more frequent milkings,” she writes, “but a lot of t is breeding and industrial agriculture has taken it to an extreme … [A] look at the variety of chicken breeds kept by small farms, hobbyists, nd backyard chicken owners shows just how much humans have successfully meddled in chicken genetics. You can find chickens adapted to iving in hot weather…
The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) and Compassion Over Killing have reportedly filed a complaint in a California federal court against the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Federal Trade Commission claiming that the agencies have failed to regulate animal-welfare labeling on egg cartons. According to ALDF, rulemaking petitions were filed in 2006 and 2007 asking for egg production methods to be fully disclosed on every carton of eggs sold in the United States. The agencies have not only allegedly failed to take action on these requests, they have also apparently failed to take action against “the often-misleading claims and deceptive imagery widely found on egg cartons.” The plaintiffs seek a court order requiring the agencies to adopt rules that would mandate that producers clearly label their egg cartons with egg production methods, including “Eggs from Caged Hens.” See ALDF News Release, March 28, 2013.
According to media sources, German officials have apparently launched an investigation into more than 160 farms accused of flouting the standards governing organic and free-range egg production. Lower Saxony and two other states have apparently announced an ongoing probe into poultry establishments, including 40 organic farms, that allegedly marketed their eggs as organic or free-range while keeping their hens in overcrowded conditions. Those operators found in beach of EU regulations face both fines and up to six months in prison. “If the accusations are found to be true, then we are talking of fraud on a grand scale: fraud against consumers but also fraud against the many organic farmers in Germany who work honestly,” said German Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Minister Isle Aigner. “Consumers must be able to rely on the fact that what is written (on the produce) is also in there. Therefore it is important that this…
A recent meta-analysis has reportedly concluded that, contrary to previous assumptions, “higher consumption of eggs (up to one egg per day) is not associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease [CHD] or stroke.” Ying Rong, et al., “Egg consumption and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke: dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies,” British Medical Journal, January 2013. To investigate “the potential dose-response association between egg consumption and risk of [CHD] and stroke,” researchers analyzed eight articles with 17 reports totaling 3,081,269 person years and 5,847 incident cases for CHD and 4,148,095 person years and 7,579 incident cases for stroke. The results evidently failed to show any significant association between consuming up to one egg per day and the risk of developing CHD or stroke, although in diabetics “higher egg consumption was associated with a significantly elevated risk of [CHD].” To explain these findings, the study’s authors not…
A California egg farmer has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 2 (Prop. 2), a voter-approved ballot initiative that, beginning January 1, 2015, will subject egg producers to criminal sanctions for confining egg-laying hens to cages preventing them from “lying down, standing up, and fully extending . . . [their] limbs” and “turning around freely.” Cramer v. Brown, No. 12-03130 (C.D. Cal., filed April 10, 2012). Contending that Prop. 2 violates his due process rights because it is vague and will result in arbitrary enforcement, the plaintiff claims that he and others will likely shut down their farms before the effective date and that the price of eggs will skyrocket for state consumers and supply shortages will occur if it goes into effect. The plaintiff also alleges that Prop. 2 violates the Commerce Clause by failing to provide local benefits and greatly burdening interstate commerce. According to the…
Attorneys involved in the settlement of injury claims linked to Salmonella-contaminated eggs traced to Wright County Egg in Iowa have reportedly told the Associated Press that the first checks, issued by the egg producer’s insurer, are on their way to the first of dozens of individuals sickened during the 2010 outbreak. Among the first wave of legal settlements are six-figure checks issued on behalf of several children. Although most of the settlement’s terms are confidential, a federal judge in Iowa apparently approved deals in open court on November 10, 2011, totaling $366,000 for three children residing in California, Iowa and Texas. Because they were hospitalized, they are receiving higher amounts than those not as seriously stricken. See MSNBC. com, November 16, 2011.
