Recall shows the downside of consolidation and lack of oversight in egg industry

The largest egg recall in U.S. history was amplified by consolidation in the egg industry and a gap in federal food safety regulations that left the facilities in question without proper oversight. United Egg Producers data reveals "just 192 large egg companies own about 95 percent of laying hens in this country, down from 2,500 in 1987," Lyndsey Layton of The Washington Post reports. "Most of those producers are concentrated in five states: Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and California." To make matters worse neither of the two Iowa facilities at the heart of the recall had ever been inspected by Food and Drug Administration officials.

Egg industry consolidation's "magnified effect is illustrated by the current recall: Just two Iowa producers, Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, have been implicated in a nationwide outbreak of Salmonella enteritidis, with the companies recalling 500 million eggs sold under 24 brands," Layton writes. The mega-producers have grown up in corn belt states, where abundant corn, can supply cheap feed to egg companies. These companies have gone largely without government oversight as neither the U.S. Department of Agriculture or Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship had ever inspected the two Iowa facilities either. (You can see our previous item on the recall here)

"It is shocking that nobody was in these facilities, but it also illustrates that egg-laying facilities have fallen into the crack between the government agencies that are responsible for food safety," Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, told Layton. USDA regulates the health of chickens, but not eggs, and Iowa, the leading egg producer, does not inspect egg-laying facilities like some other states. FDA historically has only inspected egg facilities if it suspects contamination, though a new agency rule that took effect in July should change that. "Food safety legislation pending on Capitol Hill would require the FDA to routinely inspect high-risk food facilities, including henhouses," Layton writes. (Read more)