After a summer pause, the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) epidemic in the United States resumed last month, first as a single event, then as a cluster of cases, and it is now spreading across at least 14 states.
The new outbreak cases first took the dead bird total to
Continue Reading Avian flu kills more than 61 million birds, but CDC still sees only a slight threat to humansAs part of a campaign to keep their clients from serving any prison time, appellate attorneys for Austin (“Jack”) and Peter DeCoster are depicting the roles the former egg producers played in the 2010 Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak as marked by corporate responsibility and cooperation. The picture being painted stands in
Continue Reading DeCosters Cite 2010 Performance to Help Keep Them Out of Jail
His sentencing in two weeks in a federal courtroom in Sioux City, IA, won’t be the first time that Austin “Jack” DeCoster has had to pay up for his legal misdeeds. DeCoster has paid millions in fines before, but in two weeks, the 79-year-old DeCoster and his 51-year-old son, Peter
Continue Reading DeCosters Will Face Victims and Possible Jail Time at Sentencing
In his many high-profile run-ins with government officials over labor and environmental controversies, the now-71-year-old Austin “Jack” DeCoster got used to people wanting to see him jail. But it never happened, and his lawyers now say neither DeCoster nor his son Peter can be sentenced to jail for their involvement
Continue Reading DeCoster Defense Team Says Jail for Their Clients Is Not an Option
When 550 million shell eggs were recalled from two Iowa farms in 2010 as the nation experienced an outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE), Austin “Jack” DeCoster owned or controlled the largest egg production conglomerate in the U.S. Government attorneys say he knew more than he’s let on about controlling the
Continue Reading Government Says Salmonella Controls DeCoster Practiced in Maine Were Not Followed in Iowa
More than a year after the deadly Listeria outbreak that stemmed from Jensen Farms’ cantaloupes was first detected, criminal charges have yet to be filed against the company, but the Food and Drug Administration’s website says its outbreak investigation is still open. FDA’s report was last updated on January 8,
Continue Reading FDA’s Power to Prosecute
A former manager at the Iowa farm responsible for the largest egg recall in history and the 2010 Salmonella outbreak that sickened nearly 2,000 people will plead guilty to conspiring to bribe a federal inspector to overlook health violations at the facility. Tony Wasmund, former employee of Wright County Egg
Continue Reading Employee of Egg Farm Linked to 2010 Salmonella Outbreak Tried to Bribe USDA Inspector
Iowa State University’s government-funded Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory knew that laying eggs produced by DeCoster Farms were likely contaminated with Salmonella months before more than half a billion eggs from its facility were recalled two years ago. ISU’s lab, employing 125 people with a $3.2 million budget funded annually by Iowa
Continue Reading DeCoster Knew About Contamination for Months Before Recall
The requirement that lawsuit settlements reached on behalf of children go back to federal court for approval is giving the public an early look at what last year’s nationwide Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak may eventually cost egg baron Jack DeCoster’s insurer.
The 2010 SE outbreak sickened at least 1,939 people and
Continue Reading Settlements for Children Injured in Egg Outbreak
Since last August when his egg production was found to be the likely source of a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE), “Jack” DeCoster has not been allowed to sell so much as a single egg from any of his six Iowa farms.
Yesterday that all changed.
In a
