If you haven’t visited your local Farmer’s Market already this season then the massive egg recall should be motivation enough to check it out. The latest report out today regarding condition at these farms.
U.S. health investigators on Monday detailed a slew of violations that included the presence of manure pits, rodents and dead flies at two Iowa farms implicated in the recent egg recall due to salmonella infection.
At Wright County Egg, infractions included manure piles seeping into hen houses.
"In some cases, the manure piles were four-to-eight feet high," Elder said.
Rodents and wildlife, including wild birds, also had easy access to poultry houses, and investigators observed "dead flies too numerous to count" and dead flies which were "crushed underfoot" when employees traversed the poultry houses, Elder said.
Dead maggots were even observed in the manure at one farm.
Also, "employees failed to change protective clothing when moving from one house to another," Elder said, and they weren’t sanitizing equipment.
Similar violations were logged at Hillandale, with rodents having convenient entryways into the poultry houses. Standing water was found near manure piles and "uncaged hens were tracking manure from the manure pit into the caged areas," Elder said.
