The US House Committee on Energy and Commerce announced yesterday that it will hold a hearing next month to address the safety of the nation’s food supply in the wake of the current Salmonella outbreak linked to two Iowa farms. The outbreak has led to the recall of about 550 million eggs and 1,470 reported illnesses believed to be related to the contaminated eggs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it has linked a bacteria found in chicken feed used at the Iowa farms to the salmonella outbreak that prompted the recall.
This isn’t the first time bad eggs have resulted in a salmonella outbreak. With more than 95 percent of all U.S. eggs currently coming from caged hens (where the hens are crammed into cages so small they can’t even lift a single wing), you can’t help but wonder if there is a connection between the salmonella outbreaks and the practice of caging hens. Several scientific, peer-reviewed journals have published studies in the past few years concluding increased salmonella rates in Continue reading
