In 2004 Ohio Fresh Eggs, the states largest factory farm, made headlines when MFA exposed egregious animal cruelty at the battery-cage facility. Today the facility is in the spotlight again, this time for violating environmental laws.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says Ohio Fresh Eggs pleaded guilty this week to clean water violations and will pay $300,000 for the illegal water pollution. The farm has 12 production facilities located in Northwest and Central Ohio. Approximately three million egg laying hens are confined at the facility cited for the violation.
The EPA said in a statement Tuesday that water from egg washing at the farm wound up in a ditch that runs into a creek in March 2007. The government says the egg wash water contains broken eggs, soap and manure.
Ohio Fresh Eggs, formally known as Buckeye Egg Farm, has a sordid history of violating environmental standards, sexual harassment of workers, and cruelty to animals. The facility even has ties with Austin “Jack” DeCoster, the infamous businessman behind Quality Egg of New England – the facility recently raided by state officials following an MFA undercover investigation.
Below is a photo take inside Ohio Fresh Eggs.
