Hillandale’s Iowa facility to resume shipping eggs

The Food and Drug Administration informed Hillandale Farms that the Hampton, Iowa, facility could resume shipping table eggs from specific houses based on corrective action and negative environmental assays. Based on positive assays from four houses, egg pool testing will continue before a decision is made concerning the marketability of product from these flocks. Two houses are undergoing decontamination following depletion. In a letter dated October 15, the FDA commented that corrective action to remedy “objectionable conditions noted during the August inspection have been resolved.”
In a separate letter to Mr. Jack Austin DeCoster, the FDA noted that the biosecurity problems and deviations from acceptable standards, as documented during previous inspections, have not been rectified and the company was warned to “take prompt and aggressive action to eliminate salmonella contamination and defects in biosecurity.”
The FDA warned that failure to take prompt action would result in regulatory penalties including seizure of product and injunctions. The warning letter cited deviations from regulations concerning safety of shell eggs with specific reference to rodent control and biosecurity. The recipient of the FDA letter was advised to respond indicating “prompt and aggressive action” to the district director.