A nationwide outbreak of salmonella poisoning has once again left the Food and Drug Administration with egg on its face.  With the sheer size of the recall - more than 550 million eggs - and the fact that thousands of people have been sickened, we will likely find that more members of the public will step up to join food safety groups, and California food poisoning class action lawyers to call for a sweeping overhaul of American food safety laws.

More than 2,000 people are believed to have fallen sick from eating the salmonella-tainted eggs.  The source of the contamination has been traced to two farms in Iowa.  Interestingly enough, both the farms have common ties.  They are connected to DeCoster Farms, and the founder of the firm, Austin “Jack” DeCoster, reportedly has a history of environmental law violations.  DeCoster has also been cited for several health and employment violations over the years.  He owns Wright County Egg, one of the farms linked to the contaminated eggs.  He also owns another farm called Quality Egg, which supplies young chickens to the other Iowa farm, Hillendale Farm, which also recalled 170 million eggs. 

The Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg has confirmed that both the farms were not “behaving responsibly” before the recall.  FDA staff has conducted on-site inspections of both farms, and findings are expected next week.

The FDA says it could not have prevented the epidemic because as of July 9, it did not have the power to inspect farms.  Oversight of farms is among those gray areas where the duties and responsibilities of the Food and Drug Administration overlap with those of the US Department of Agriculture.  While the Department of Agriculture is responsible for the hens, the FDA is responsible for the feed and the eggs.  That surreal explanation is also the reason why food safety in the US is such a challenging area, and also why strong legislation is needed to give the FDA the power it sorely needs.