Just in time for the dinner hour, ABC News lets us know that America’s big factory farmers cherish the great Heartland American(tm) value of frugality:
Millions of eggs from the Iowa farms at the heart of a massive salmonella recall are not destined for the garbage but for a table near you. The recalled eggs that were already shipped to grocery stores and restaurants are being dumped by the truckload. But the eggs still being laid by potentially infected chickens will be pasteurized to kill any bacteria. Then they can be sold as liquid eggs or put in other products such as mayonnaise or ice cream.
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It’s a common if little-known practice in the food industry — salvaging and selling products that may have been tainted with disease.
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The FDA cannot order the farms to kill hens that may be infected with salmonella, but the farms could decide to do that on their own. Neither would discuss that possibility.
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[Wright County Egg spokeswoman] Hinda Mitchell would not say whether the hens could wind up being used for meat — common practice for egg-laying hens once they pass about 18 months of age and become less productive.
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A similar process has been used to salvage other raw products tainted with bacteria. Ground beef found to contain E. coli bacteria, for instance, is sometimes diverted for use in precooked products such as frozen meatballs, said Don Schaffner, a professor and microbiologist at Rutgers University. Tainted meat could also wind up being used in canned soup, he said.
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Because the farms involved in the recall have so many hens, Schaffner said, “it would be a catastrophic waste if these hens were not going to be used in some way in the food supply.”