U.S. Egg Safety Standards Still Falling Short of British Success in Reducing Salmonella Rates

Eggs are one of the most important staples of the human diet. They’re eaten as part of breakfasts all over the world, and are needed for countless recipes. While used as quality sources of protein and thickeners, they’re also highly vulnerable to Salmonella contamination if the right conditions aren’t met.

A USDA inspector checks eggs. File photo.

Over the summer, the United States saw major Salmonella outbreaks that “sickened hundreds of people across the country” and led to the massive recall of eggs from two major Iowa producers.

These latest outbreaks came just weeks before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s latest rollout of egg safety requirements. “Preventing harm to consumers is our first priority and these actions will prevent thousands of serious illnesses from Salmonella in eggs,” said the agency’s Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, in an effort to reassure the public.

From May to August of this year, about 1,500 illnesses were reported to likely be associated with these outbreaks, according to information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

The FDA says that every year “as many as 79,000 illness and 30 deaths are due to consumption of eggs contaminated with the bacterium Salmonella Enteritidis” and touts that implementing the preventative measures would reduce the number of salmonella infections from eggs by “nearly 60 percent.”

Salmonella is an bacterium which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy people infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be blooded), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.

In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the bacterium getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections, endocarditic, and arthritis.

To reduce sickness, under the newly effective rules, large-scale producers (having 50,000 or more laying hens) whose shell eggs aren‘t processed with a treatment such as pasteurization, must:

• Buy chicks and young hens only from suppliers who monitor for Salmonella bacterium.
• Establish rodent, pest controls, and biosecurity measures to prevent the spread of bacterium throughout the farm by people and equipment.
• Conduct testing in the poultry houses for Salmonella. If the tests find the bacterium, then a representative sample of eggs must be tested over an eight-week time period (four tests at two week intervals). If any of the four tests is positive, the producer must further process the eggs to destroy the bacterium or divert the eggs to a non-food use.
• Clean and disinfect poultry houses that have tested positive for Salmonella.
• Refrigerate eggs at 45 °F (7 °C) during storage and transportation no later than 36 hours after the eggs are laid. This requirement also applies to producers whose eggs receive a treatment such as pasteurization.

Next July, these rules will also apply to egg producers with between 50,000 and 3,000  laying hens, whose shell eggs are not processed with a treatment such as pasteurization.

Exempt from these regulations will be producers with fewer than 3,000 laying hens. “These producers account for less than one percent of U.S. eggs,” says the FDA. These regulations also don’t apply to producers who sell all their eggs directly to consumers.

Lion Quality seal. Image courtesy of the BEIS.

Besides not covering every single egg producer, these regulations also fall short of British standards under the “Lion Quality Code of Practice.” The British Egg Information Service (BEIS) says that, “All birds destined Lion Quality egg producing flocks are vaccinated against Salmonella using an approved vaccine.”

Currently over 85 percent of United Kingdom eggs are produced under these quality standards, introduced in 1998.

Over a decade later, Andrew Parker, chairman of the British Egg Industry Council, says, “The status of UK egg production as among the safest in the world has been reinforced by the results of the latest EU Salmonella report, with 99 percent of UK egg laying flocks shown to be clear of salmonella in tests.”

These vaccinations aren’t mandatory through British legislation, but major supermarkets in the country won’t buy eggs without the industry-sponsored Lion Quality seal.

Many industry experts in the U.S. would like to have seen the FDA add a mandatory hen vaccination against Salmonella in the new egg safety regulations, but the agency rejected this. The FDA conclude in its final rule that, “While vaccines have shown some promise in the lab, there is insufficient evidence from field trials.”

Reader comments and input are always welcomed!