State Legislatures Magazine: December 2002
Editor's Note: This article appeared in the December 2002 issue of NCSL's magazine, State Legislatures. To order copies or to subscribe, contact the marketing department at (303) 364-7700.
On First Reading
States Protect People From Bad Eggs
Do you remember the old M*A*S*H* episode with the bad eggs? The actors accurately portrayed the symptoms-diarrhea, abdominal cramps, headache, nausea and vomiting.
In real life, children, the elderly and people with an impaired immune system could face even more severe consequences.
Fortunately 10 states, accounting for 35 percent of the nation's egg production, have taken the initiative to protect citizens from Salmonella enteritis, a bacteria that can be found in eggs.
The states, including California, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, have begun a voluntary egg safety program that has significantly reduced illnesses and has resulted in calls for a nationwide program.
Reported cases of salmonella poisoning fell by 22 percent after the standards were implemented, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study. In some states infection rates dropped by half or more within seven years.
Participating farms comply with a number of sanitation and testing standards. And some states allow the farms to add a special seal to cartons that promote their egg safety.
The CDC estimates that one in 50 eggs carries salmonella, but thorough cooking kills the bacteria. Still, foodborne illness causes 76 million people to get sick, hospitalizes more than 300,000, and kills 5,000 Americans each year.
The Bush administration, picking up on yet another successful state program, is considering mandatory national standards. Those rules, under review by the Food and Drug Administration, would require regular testing of chicken houses for salmonella and would set various sanitation requirements for farms. Eggs that test positive for salmonella could be sold only to food processors that break and pasteurize them.
©2002, National Conference of State Legislatures. All rights reserved.
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