The egg recall: 4 'stomach-churning' details

The owners of the farms in question produce over 2.3 million dozen eggs every week.

(Image credit: Corbis)

last updated 10 January 2015

Just how filthy were the Iowa farms at the center of this month's recall of over half a billion eggs? According to the FDA's farm inspectors, very filthy indeed. Six farms operated by Wright County Egg and Quality Egg, and three run by Hillandale Farms were inspected this month after a salmonella outbreak that has left 1,470 people sick. FDA investigators found evidence of poor health standards that the Center for Science in the Public Interest called "stomach-churning." The owners of these farms produce over 2.3 million dozen eggs every week from Iowa farms, notes Marion Nestle at The Atlantic. "The take home lessons seem obvious": This has gotten out of hand, and the government needs to act. On the basis of these findings, the FDA says it will now inspect all egg-laying operations with more than 50,000 hens. (Watch a local report about the economic toll of the egg recall.) Here's what inspectors found at the Iowa sites:

8 ft. piles of chicken manure