FDA Threatens Egg Farmer With "Seizure and/or Injunction"

Yesterday the FDA publicly released its redacted letter* to Austin "Jack" Decoster, notorious owner of the notorious Quality Egg of Galt, Iowa. The ironically named shell-egg facility is suspected to be at least one source (if not the source) of a recent egg-borne salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 1000 Americans. Decoster and his manager son, Peter, were publicly tarred and feathered last month at a Congressional Subcommittee hearing on the outbreak.

The FDA's warning letter, sent by the agency's Kansas City District Director last week, alleges violations of the Prevention of Salmonella Enteritidis in Shell Eggs During Production, Storage, and Transportation regulation (21 CFR 118); the Public Health Service Act (42 USC §264(a)); and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 USC 342(a)(4)).** The FDA demands "prompt and aggressive actions to eliminate the Salmonella Enteritidis contaminations and the observations described." Futhermore the letter appears to lay grounds for potential criminal proceedings against Decoster by the US government, in addition to explicitly threatening "seizure and/or injunction."

* Although it's not clear where the redactions were made.

** The cited portion of the FDCA identifies adulterated food by the following: "if it has been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health."