TakePart reports that FDA food-safety inspectors are not monitoring the nearly 60
million egg-laying hens in Iowa, the nation’s largest egg-producing state.
In 2010, 550 million
eggs were recalled after thousands of people were sickened with salmonella in
an outbreak connected to Iowa farms. This egg recall was the largest in U.S.
history.
According to the Des Moines Register, food-safety inspections were halted in Iowa
last year over concerns that inspectors might spread bird flu. A virulent
strain had been killing birds in the state by the tens of millions.
Eggs are far less
likely to carry salmonella than poultry; however, when a laying hen is infected
with the bacteria, she can pass it on to the egg where it remains either on the
shell or within the white and yolk. The FDA estimates that eggs contaminated
with salmonella sicken 79,000 and kill 30 people annually.
“Maintaining public
confidence in the safety of the eggs we produce is our priority—and consumers
can trust that egg farmers in Iowa are doing all that is needed to provide them
with safe, quality, nutritious eggs, said Randy Olson, executive director of
the Iowa Poultry Association.
Sound like a lot of
hot air? We think so too.
Eggs are not only
linked to deadly pathogens; they’re also loaded with saturated fat and
cholesterol.
And let’s not forget
that egg farming subjects millions of birds to lives of unimaginable suffering
in battery cages.
Just take a look at
this undercover video from an Iowa egg farm:
Fed up? Then it’s
time to take eggs off the table. Visit ChooseVeg.com for tips and recipes.