Aha! Got It! Dirty Details About the Egg Operations That Sold the Tainted Eggs!!!

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 22:25:37 PM PDT

In short, at Wright County Egg, they found holes in the buildings where other animals could get in, wild birds, standing water, rodents (a MAJOR risk factor for salmonella), escaped chickens, live and dead flies, live and dead maggots, and lots of poop (piles of manure 8 feet high!).

There were also some problems in the feed mill, which makes sense if the salmonella came from the feed. Birds were all over the place in there, and there were holes in several food containers. Plus some "avian like feces." No surprise, the FDA tested for salmonella and found plenty of it in there.

The report for the Hillandale, the other farm (the one not owned by DeCoster), was much less exciting. There's still a bit of manure, rodents, open holes in the structures, standing water, and lack of record keeping, but it's clearly not as bad as the DeCoster operation.  

Non chicken feathers were observed inside Layer 3 - House 3. One live wild bird was observed flying above chicken cages inside Layer I - House 9. Wild birds were observed flying inside and outside of Layer 1 - Houses 11 and l2. Pigeons were observed roosting in an air vent where the screening was damaged on south side of the Layer l - House 14.

Two birds' nests were observed on the outside structure of Layer 3 - between Houses 1 and 2 approximately 7 - 12 feet from the manure pit doors. Layer 3 - House 8 had a bird's nest and birds were observed under the edges of metal siding on the south wall.

Chicken manure located in the manure pits below the egg laying operation was observed to be approximately 4 feet high to 8 feet high at the following locations: Layer 1 - House 1; Layer 3 - Houses 2, 7, 17, and 18. The outside access doors to the manure pits at these locations had been pushed out by the weight of the manure, leaving open access to wildlife or domesticated animals.

Exterior structural damage allowing entrance to the interior of the laying houses was observed in Layer 1 - Houses 1,3,4,7, 8, 11 and 12; Layer 2 - Houses 7 and 11; Layer 3 - Houses 1,2, 11,13, 14,15 and 18; Layer 4 - House 3. Observations include: holes in exterior siding, missing siding, holes and/or gaps in the concrete foundation and air vent screens either missing or damaged

The east and west doors located on the second floor egg laying areas of Layer 1 - Houses 1- 14; Layer 2 - Houses 7 and 11; Layer 3 - Houses 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 15, 16, 17, and 18; Layer 4 - House 3 were observed to have gaps at the bottom and sides ranging from a 1/2 inch to 2 inches.

Un-baited, unsealed holes appearing to be rodent burrows located along the second floor baseboards were observed inside Layer 1 - Houses 1 - 9 and 11 - 13; Layer 2 - Houses 7 and 11; Layer 3 - Houses 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6; Layer 4 - House 3.

Dark liquid which appeared to be manure was observed seeping through the concrete foundation to the outside of the laying houses at the following locations: Layer 1 - Houses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, and 14; and Layer 3 ­- Houses 1, 8, 13 and 17.

Standing water approximately 3 inches deep was observed in the southeast corner of the manure pit located inside Layer 1 - House 13.

Employees workng within the houses did not wear or change protective clothing wben moving from house to house. An employee at Layer 6 - House 3 was observed walking out of House 3 with a metal scraper and into House 2 without changing protective clothing and without cleaning/sanitizing equipment between the houses.

Un-caged birds (chickens having escaped) were observed in the egg laying operation in contact with the egg lay;ng birds at Layer 3 - Houses 9 and 16. The un~caged birds were using the manure, which was approximately 8 feet high, to access the egg laying area.

d) Layer 3 - House 11, the house entrance door to access both House 11 and 12 was blocked with excessive amounts of manure in the manure pits.

Live and dead f1ies too numerous to count were observed at the following locations inside the egg laying houses: Layer 1 - Houses 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, ll and 12; Layer 2 - Houses 7 and 11; Layer 3 - Houses 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, I5, 16, 17 and 18. The live flies were on and around egg belts, feed, shell eggs and walkways in different sections of each egg laying area. In addition, live and dead maggots too numerous to count were observed on the manure pit floor located in Layer 2 - House 7.

[all emphasis mine]

The report then gives a list of how many live rodents (between 2 and 5) were found at each house. And there were plenty of missing logs of rodent inspections and cleaning equipment.

Then there's the feed mill:

Birds were observed roosting and flying, chicks heard chirping in the storage and milling facility. In addition, nesting material was observed in the feed mill closed mixing system, ingredient storage and truck filling areas.

Raw ingredient bins and feed sensors accessible from roof of facility had rusted holes and feed grain level sensors ajar to the outdoor environment These included:

• Ingredient storage bin 12, containing salt, had a rusted gap about a l/2 inch wide the length of the lid of the roof level covered ingredient bin chute.
  
• Ingredient storage bin 21 containing ground corn had a hole approximately 3 inches by 1/2 inch wide at the base of the roof level covered ingredient bin chute.
  
• At the base of the feed grain level sensor leading into ingredient storage bill 21, containing ground corn, there was an open hole.
  
• Feed grain level sensor leading into ingredient storage bin 7, containing meat and bone meal, was off to the side with approximately a 2 inch gap. Avian like feces was observed on top of this feed sensor.
  
• Finished feed tanks 4 and 18 did not have covers on top of the finished feed tank chutes.

Outdoor whole kernel corn grain bins 4 and 6 observed to have 1he topside doors/lids open to the environment and pigeons were observed emerging and leaving these openings. Birds were also observed sitting/flying around and over the openings.