SUNDAY, AUGUST 22, 2010
KLMNO Egg firm has history of safety, health violations eggs from A1
up the money for Hillandale’s founder to purchase Ohio Fresh Eggs, the largest operation in that state. Federal and state officials are
still trying to pinpoint the cause of the outbreaks, which started in May and so far have not in- volved any reported deaths. But the investigation and recalls al- ready represent the biggest chal- lenge yet to a family empire that has continued to thrive, often with the support of local resi- dents and officials grateful for the jobs and tax dollars it pro- vides. “Wright County Egg recogniz- es the significant consumer con- cern about the potential inci- dence of Salmonella Enteritidis,” Mitchell, the company spokes- woman, said in a statement. “That is why we continue to work cooperatively with FDA after our voluntary recalls . . . of shell eggs. This measure is consistent with our commitment to egg safety, and it is our responsibility.” As family legend has it, the company got its start in Turner, Maine, when Austin “Jack” DeCoster was 15: His father died, leaving him responsible for his siblings and the family’s 125 chickens. DeCoster — a born- again Christian who, according to Maine officials, once fired a manager because he was an athe- ist — expanded the family’s hold- ings to more than 15 million chickens. Now in his 70s, he runs the company with his sons Peter, in Iowa, and Jay, in Maine.
Growing list of violations As the family’s holdings have
expanded, so has the list of alle- gations against it: In 1996, DeCoster was fined $3.6 million for health and safety violations at the family’s Turner egg farm, which then-Labor Sec- retary Robert Reich termed “as dangerous and oppressive as any sweatshop we have seen.” Reg- ulators found that workers had been forced to handle manure and dead chickens with their bare hands and to live in filthy trailers. In 1999, the company paid $5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit involving unpaid over- time for 3,000 workers. In 2001, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that DeCoster was a “repeat violator” of state environ- mental laws, citing violations in- volving the family’s hog-farming operations. The family was for- bidden to expand its hog-farm- ing interests in the state. Also in 2001, DeCoster Farms of Iowa settled, for $1.5 million, a complaint brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Com- mission that the company had subjected 11 undocumented female workers from Mexico to a “sexually hostile work environ- ment,” including sexual assault and rape by supervisors. In 2002, the Occupational Safety and Health Administra- tion fined the family’s Maine Contract
Farming branch
$345,810 for an array of vio- lations. The same year, DeCoster Egg Farms of Maine paid $3.2 million to settle a lawsuit filed in 1998 by Mexican workers alleging discrimination in hous- ing and working conditions. In 2003, Jack DeCoster paid the federal government $2.1 mil- lion as part of a plea agreement after federal agents found more than 100 undocumented workers at his Iowa egg farms. It was the largest penalty ever against an Iowa employer. Three years later, agents found 30 workers sus- pected of being illegal immi- grants at a DeCoster farm in Iowa. And in 2007, raids at other DeCoster Iowa farms uncovered 51 more suspected undocument- ed workers. In 2006, Ohio’s Agriculture
Department revoked the permits of Ohio Fresh Eggs because its new co-owners, including Hillan- dale founder Orland Bethel, had failed to disclose that DeCoster had put up $126 million for the purchase, far more than their $10,000, and was heavily in- volved in managing the com- pany. By playing down DeCos- ter’s role, the owners had avoid- ed a background check into DeCoster’s “habitual violator” status in Iowa. An appeals panel overturned the revocation, say- ing the disclosure was adequate. In 2008, OSHA cited DeCos- ter’s Maine Contract Farming for violations that included forcing workers to retrieve eggs the pre- vious winter from inside a build- ing that had collapsed under ice and snow. Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer who specializes in food safety cases and has already filed one suit in the current outbreak and expects to file another Monday, said the recalls would deal a huge financial blow to the com- pany. But he noted that several companies involved in other ma- jor recalls in recent years — for peanuts, spinach and other prod- ucts — have seen their sales bounce back. "This may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, but there are lots of companies with massive recalls . . . that go on their merry way," he said.
Fewer U.S. outbreaks Howard Magwire of the Unit-
ed Egg Producers, a trade group, said the incidence of salmonella outbreaks in the country’s egg in- dustry, which produces 80 bil- lion eggs a year, has dropped in the past decade, thanks to im- proved industry practices, better state oversight and consumer education. A new egg safety law that went into effect last month is geared toward preventing out- breaks like the ones that began in May by, among other things, re- quiring more testing for salmo- nella in chicken barns.
Despite the DeCosters’ record, some state regulators say the company has improved its ap- proach in recent years. Kevin Baskins, a spokesman for Iowa’s Department of Natural Resourc- es, said the agency, which shares oversight of egg producers with the state’s agriculture depart- ment, had brought no enforce- ment actions against the com- pany’s egg operations. “One of the things I’ve always said about DeCoster is that when there’s a problem at his facilities, he acts fast,” he said. “They’re not going to sit around and question you, ‘Do we really need to do that?’ If we see a spill that needs to be stopped, they do it.” The company also gets warm
reviews from local officials in the towns where it operates. In Tur- ner, where it provides $4.8mil- lion in taxes per year — 8.6 per- cent of the total — Town Manag- er Eva Leavitt said the company is “very easy to work with,” de- spite the problems that arose there. “The facility is neat and clean and has a pleasant view,” she said. In Galt, Iowa, Wright County
Supervisor Stan Watne said the DeCosters have “done good things for the town,” such as giv- ing money to the library. He wor- ries about what will happen if the company goes into a decline, given how much local corn grow- ers depend on it as a buyer of chicken feed and a source of cheap fertilizer. But he is still hopeful that the DeCosters would survive intact given how many egg buyers depend on them. “Who else are those people go- ing to go to?” Watne said. “He’s the big guy. He can fill an order no one else can.” Rosella Bear, for one, has found another source for her
“We are focused on doing the right thing with the recall and on our continued cooperation with FDA.”
— Hinda Mitchell, spokeswoman for the DeCoster family company
eggs. A neighbor of a big Ohio Fresh Eggs operation in Mar- seilles, Ohio, she has long com- plained about problems there. While the smell and flies aren’t as bad as they used to be, she re- cently reported to state officials another case of egg wash water flowing from the farm and filling roadside ditches with a reddish foam.
She said she makes sure to buy her eggs from a local Mennonite
family.
“I went just last night and got some nice big brown ones from them,” she said. “I don’t think I’m going to get salmonella from their flock.”
macgillisa@washpost.com
The recalls involve more than a dozen brand names. Most of the recalled eggs are presumed to have been eaten. See
www.eggsafety.org for help identifying recalled cartons.
S
From Page One A11 80 billion SOURCE: Staff reports eggs are produced each year in the U.S. 550 million have recently been recalled THE WASHINGTON POST
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