Wright County Egg recall: DeCoster to testify before House subcommittee

The owner of the two Iowa hen farms implicated in the nationwide Salmonella egg recall will testify before a House subcommittee next week.

According to a report from The Des Moines Register, Jack DeCoster is scheduled to answer questions from the House Energy and Commerce panel on Sept. 21 in Washington, D.C. There is no indication whether DeCoster will actually answer any questions, but has been asked to attend.

DeCoster owns Wright County Egg and sells hens to Hillandale Farms, two Iowa facilities which shipped more than a half-billion eggs that may be contaminated with Salmonella bacteria.

Nearly 2,000 people have been confirmed as getting sick after eating eggs from one of these two farms in reports across the country. The eggs are sold under various brand names and were recalled last month in one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history.

The two facilities supply many food wholesalers and distributors with eggs. They, in turn, distribute those eggs mostly to larger-scale clients like restaurants and hotels.

There is little motivation for DeCoster to answer any questions lawmakers may have for him, and they’ll be surely armed with plenty to ask.

A Food and Drug Administration investigation into the outbreak has already found ample evidence of rampant contamination of the two farms, including contaminated feed given to hens just about ready to begin laying eggs.

The FDA has not concluded its investigation at the Iowa facilities but did release some information as its inquiry continued.

DeCoster, however, will be protected by precedent and some weak FDA laws which protect the food supply from those who so recklessly disregard food safety laws like DeCoster.

Previous martyrs in massive food recalls have plead silence before the subcommittee, including Stewart Parnell, who operated the defunct Peanut Corporation of America, the firm behind the massive recall of peanut butter snack products last year.

The FDA is currently weighing stiffer penalties for those who break food safety laws, but until those details are hammered out, it’s likely the place where DeCoster’s firm will be hurt most is in personal injury lawsuits filed by those who ate contaminated eggs from those farms.