Health Law

A Bad Egg Revealed: FDA Releases Inspection Report of Wright County Egg

By Colin Caywood

Today the FDA released its Form 483 Inspection Observation Report from the on-site inspections it recently conducted at Wright County Egg's egg laying farms/plants, and the findings are nothing short of disgusting.  Here are just a sampling of the conditions witnessed by FDA's inspectors: 

• Chicken manure located in the manure pits below the egg laying operations 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.
• 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 at the southeast corner of the manure pit located inside Layer 1 – House 13.
• Un-caged birds (chickens having escaped) were observed in the egg laying operations in contact with the egg laying 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.
• 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.
• There were between 2 to 5 live mice observed inside the egg laying Houses 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 14.
• Live and dead flies too numerous to count were observed at the following locations inside the egg laying houses: Layer 1 – Houses 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, and 12; Layer 2 – Houses 7 and 11; Layer 3 – Houses 3, 4, 4, 5, 7, 8, 15, 16, 17, and 18. The live flies were on and around egg belts, feed, shell eggs and walkways in the 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.
• You did not document washing and disinfecting of your dead hen truck and manure equipment prior to moving from farm to farm.
• You did not maintain records documenting the washing and disinfection of the trailers used for the movement of pullets to laying houses.
• Birds were observed roosting and flying, chicks heard chirping in the storage and milking facilities. In addition, nesting material was observed in the feed mill closed mixing system, ingredient storage and truck filling areas.
• Outdoor whole kernel corn grain bins 4 and 6 observed to have the topside doors/lids open to the environment and pigeons were observed entering and leaving these openings. Birds were also observed sitting/flying around and over the openings.

In addition, numerous samples were collected during the course of te inspection and tested by an FDA laboratory.  The results revealed the following positive analytical results for Salmonella Enteritidis:

• On 8/13/2010, an environmental sample was collected from Layer 2, house 7 manure swab from row 1 – left side.
• On 8/16/2010, an environmental sample was collected from Layer 2, house 11 at manure scraper blade from row 3 – right side.
• On 8/13/2010, an environmental sample was collected from Layer 4, house 3 at walkway 1 – right side and walkway 3 – right side.
• On 8/14/2010, a sample of meat and bone meal was collected from ingredient bin 7 located at your feed mill.
• On 8/17/2010, a sample of finished feed 'Developer' pullet feed was collected from the feed mill.
• On 8/16/2010, an environmental sample was collected from the roof level covered ingredient bin chute 8; Second Floor ingredient bin cover 19 (ingredient bin 19 holds ground corn) located at your feed mill.

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on August 31, 2010 (boomark / email).