In an unprecedented road trip, Tony Wesner, chief operating officer of Rose Acre Farms joined the United Egg Producers (UEP) area meetings to share his insights on the company’s April 2018 egg recall. “We would like to pay back the UEP for their assistance during the recall and to help you,” Wesner told UEP members. He explained at the UEP meeting held in Des Moines, Iowa, on August 28, 2018, that everyone in the audience was an egg farmer and that farmers help their neighbors.
With humor and humility, Wesner openly shared the story of an egg recall from Rose Acre's Hyde County, North Carolina, facility due to contamination with Salmonella Braenderup. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now shown egg producers what they might expect in a Salmonella outbreak involving relatively unknown serotypes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website lists only two previous Salmonella Braenderup food recalls since 2006. One was a nut butter contamination from a processing plant in Oregon, and the other was from imported mangoes. Scientific literature has described over 2,500 Salmonella serotypes, yet very little is known and understood about the vast majority.
FDA testing and results
The FDA reported the initial cases occurred in November 2017 and continued until May 2018. A recall was initiated on April 13, 2018. Forty-five cases of illness were reported in 10 states with 11 patients requiring hospitalization. There were no deaths. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, 30 of 36 people interviewed had eaten shell eggs in the week prior to becoming ill. Nineteen people had eaten egg dishes prepared with shell eggs in restaurants during the same time frame. The FDA investigation showed that some of these restaurants used eggs from the Hyde County farm, which led to an inspection of the farm and the subsequent recall.
A unique aspect of this outbreak was the very low number of daily reports spread out over a long period of time. Most food-related outbreaks result in very distinct peaks of many reported cases grouped in clusters.
Laboratory testing confirmed patients were positive to infection of Salmonella Braenderup, which was also isolated from environmental samples as present at the Hyde County farm. DNA fingerprinting was conducted, and results of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis testing linked the isolates.
Within the first week alone of the recall, 35 truckloads of recalled eggs were destroyed in a landfill. All subsequent shell eggs produced at the Hyde County farm were diverted for further processing and pasteurization at breaking facilities. Rose Acre established a temporary call center to record inquiries and answer questions from customers and consumers, where over 6,000 calls were handled during the outbreak.
The Hyde County farm is constructed with 12 high-rise houses with a capacity of 3.5 million layers. Concrete-lined manure pits are built under the cages. The rodent index had fluctuated between two (moderate) and one (low) for the months preceding the inspection as a result of Rose Acre’s staggering of pit cleaning of the houses in an effort to address potential fly issues, which can occur in newly cleaned houses. The FDA’s inspection took issue with Rose Acre’s rodent index results.
Salmonella Braenderup was isolated from environmental samples on the farm and in the adjacent egg processing facility. Twenty drag swabs per house were done in manure pits, which added up to over 27 miles of swabs. One house had two swabs, which were suspect/positive for Salmonella Braenderup.
Working in collaboration
Most of the suspect or positive samples were from the egg processing plant. Inspectors took swab samples from flats with eggs, clean paper flats, loose eggs, packing lanes, the underside and legs of the processing equipment, floors, drains, cleaning buckets and tools and condensation on walls.
Oscar Garrison, UEP senior vice-president food safety regulatory affairs noted, “The FDA and CDC have more resources at their disposal than ever before, and there have been significant technical advances in the detection of disease. For food producers, that means greater scrutiny of production and processing practices, and it increases the likelihood that they will experience an inquiry from regulators if potentially linked to any illness. The Egg Rule is clear on how FDA would address Salmonella enteriditis detections, but the detection of other Salmonella strains clearly falls under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, as demonstrated in the Rose Acre matter. UEP encourages these agencies to take the necessary steps needed to clearly communicate in a timely manner the scientific findings of these investigations, so that producers can fully understand the possible links between their products and the outbreak and then make informed decisions.”
Another intriguing testing result was FDA inspectors identified a Salmonella Heidelberg isolate at the Hyde County farm. FDA inspectors initially found the isolate in the manure pit of one house as well as on the floor in the egg processing plant. Subsequent testing by Rose Acre found a genetic match of the isolate on several brand-new pallets that were tested upon delivery after the FDA inspection.
As the FDA guidance only addresses Salmonella enteriditis infection, Rose Acre and the FDA worked in collaboration on how to address the issue of future egg production from the farm. The parties agreed that all shell eggs being produced at the Hyde County farm would be broken and diverted for pasteurization and further processing at various breaking facilities to alleviate any food safety concerns. An orderly depopulation of the entire farm was then initiated with the goal to be completed before the end of the year.
Actions moving forward
Rose Acre has decided to use chlorine dioxide to disinfect all houses on the farm. With a price tag about US$50,000 per house, this was a costly, but necessary, decision. Wesner said the ability of the product to penetrate a half inch of organic material convinced him that it was the right choice to be sure buildings are optimally sanitized.
Rose Acre implemented a comprehensive restoration plan, which includes new equipment, processes, and land and building improvements at a cost in excess of US$$2 million. Rose Acre’s restoration plan and corrective actions include extensive work on the egg processing plant including, but not limited to, installation of a large dehumidifier system to reduce condensation and water on the floor, sealing all cracks in floors, and application of a floor sealant previously only used under processing equipment that is now on all floors throughout the plant.
Rose Acre implemented a comprehensive restoration plan, which includes new equipment, processes, and land and building improvements at a cost in excess of US$2 million. | Terrence O'Keefe
As he reflected on the inspection, Wesner was appreciative of the opportunity to learn from the experience. “We made some mistakes,” he said. Some examples to improve operations that he cited include proper mixing proportions of sanitizing agents, better compliance of written procedures, changing gloves or sanitizing hands after handling potentially contaminated equipment and only using approved products and processes for cleaning. He noted Rose Acre is applying the lessons learned at Hyde County to other operations across the country and also investing heavily in improvements at these facilities.
A corporate press release at the time of the recall included these comments from Rose Acre: “When we fall short of expectations, we’re disappointed in ourselves, and we strive to correct any problems and institute safeguards that ensure those problems won’t occur again. We vow to do better in the future.”
Questions and answers
Besides negative publicity, customer concerns and time spent in addressing the issue, expenses associated with the recall were significant and tested the limits of insurance coverage. Insurance subsequently became more expensive with the deductible and premiums increasing significantly.
Egg producers were encouraged to make sure they are holding their egg packing/grading facilities to ready-to-eat food processing standards so that they can improve food safety outcomes for egg consumers and meet or exceed FDA expectations.
Wesner and meeting attendees ended the session with some philosophical discussion, resulting in many questions that remain to be answered. Can we ever be sure that not one of the over 2,500 Salmonella serotypes is not present in laying operations? What is the right balance of testing? How much testing is enough? How can we be sure our customers store, prepare and handle our products properly? Can we ensure our products are not cross-contaminated in our customers’ hands? Should we be auditing our customers and their procedures?
Ending the question and answer period, Chad Gregory, UEP president, asked attendees to ponder the extent of this recall and how a similar experience might affect their own operations. “This recall has cost millions just to get this farm back into production," he said. "How many other companies can endure that sort of financial setback?”
Tony Wesner, COO of Rose Acres, shared the company's recall experience at the United Egg Producers area briefing in Des Moines, Iowa. | Rose Acres Farms
Read more about the Rose Acre Farms recall: www.WATTAgNet.com/articles/34119
