Oddly, the Brits have figured out a way to provide eggs to the public that don't contain the threat of salmonella, and it isn't even government imposed -- it comes from the free market.

In 1997, there were 14,771 reported cases in England and Wales of the most common type of the bacteria, a strain known as Salmonella Enteritidis PT4. Vaccine trials began that year, and the next year, egg producers began vaccinating in large numbers.

The number of human illnesses has dropped almost every year since then. Last year, according to data from the Health Protection Agency of England and Wales, there were just 581 cases, a drop of 96 percent from 1997.

“We have pretty much eliminated salmonella as a human problem in the U.K.,” said Amanda Cryer, director of the British Egg Information Service, an industry group.

The F.D.A. estimates that each year, 142,000 illnesses in the United States are caused by consuming eggs contaminated with the most common type of salmonella. It has said the new rules would cut that by more than half. People who eat bad eggs that have not been cooked thoroughly to kill the bacteria can get diarrhea and cramps. Rare cases can be fatal.

There are no laws mandating vaccination in Britain. But it is required, along with other safety measures, if farmers want to place an industry-sponsored red lion stamp on their eggs, which shows they have met basic standards. The country’s major supermarkets buy only eggs with the lion seal, so vaccination is practiced by 90 percent of egg producers, according to Ms. Cryer.

Thomas Humphrey, a food safety professor at the University of Liverpool, said that producers in the United Kingdom turned to vaccination after other measures, similar to those now required by the F.D.A., failed to show significant results.

But that is not REALLY the free market. It is bank handed regulation in that you can sell the eggs without the seal if you want to, but the government / industry will not approve their quality.

And without doing any number checks, it would seem that their problem is still worse than ours. Assuming numbers posted here (by you and Swamp) are mostly correct. I would think that 581 cases in Britain's population is a much higher ratio than the 1000 or so that Swamp cited in America.

There were 581 cases TOTAL in England last year - there were 1000 or so cases tied to the eggs being recalled in this specific case in the US - the number in the US annually is the 142,000 - though to be fair, I'm not sure its totally comparable because that number is an estimate of how many people get sick, the 581 is apparently actual reported cases.

And if there are no laws, and this is legitimately an industry (not government) sponsored seal in response to public concern, and the major supermarkets are choosing voluntarily to only buy eggs with the seal, then yes, it is the market regulating itself.

Maybe if we had a fully funded FDA without ties to private interests, we could properly inspect our food.  Maybe if we didn't have a handful of agribusiness companies dominating our food supply, food recalls would be much more limited.

*In 1994, the state of Iowa assessed at least four separate penalties against DeCoster Farms for environmental violations, many of them involving hog waste.

*In 1997, DeCoster Egg Farms agreed to pay $2 million in fines to settle citations brought in 1996 for health and safety violations at DeCoster's farm in Turner, Maine. The nation's labor secretary at the time, Robert Reich, said conditions were "as dangerous and oppressive as any sweatshop." Reich's successor, Alexis Herman, called the state of the farms "simply atrocious," citing unguarded machinery, electrical hazards, exposure to harmful bacteria and other unsanitary conditions.

*In 2000, Iowa designated DeCoster a "habitual violator" of environmental regulations for problems that included hog manure runoff into waterways. The label made him subject to increased penalties and prohibited him from building new farms.

*In 2002, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced a more than $1.5 million settlement of an employment discrimination lawsuit against DeCoster Farms on behalf of Mexican women who reported they were subjected to sexual harassment, including rape, abuse and retaliation by some supervisory workers at DeCoster's Wright County plants.

*In 2007, 51 workers were arrested during an immigration raid at six DeCoster egg farms. His farms had been the subject of at least three previous raids.

*In June 2010, Maine Contract Farming, the successor company to DeCoster Egg Farms, agreed in state court to pay $25,000 in penalties and to make a one-time payment of $100,000 to the Maine Department of Agriculture over animal cruelty allegations that were spurred by a hidden-camera investigation by an animal welfare organization.

Seriously, how does a company like this get to stay in business?  Fines are completely ineffective, especially when these guys receive tens of millions in corporate welfare.  Of course the fines don't matter, it's the taxpayers who are paying for them.

Posted by wrmiller13 on 8/26/2010 7:55:00 AM (view original):
But that is not REALLY the free market. It is bank handed regulation in that you can sell the eggs without the seal if you want to, but the government / industry will not approve their quality.

And without doing any number checks, it would seem that their problem is still worse than ours. Assuming numbers posted here (by you and Swamp) are mostly correct. I would think that 581 cases in Britain's population is a much higher ratio than the 1000 or so that Swamp cited in America.

How is that not the free market? The big supermarket chains have decided to only stock eggs that carry the seal, because it's in their best interest to do so. Egg producers are then free to either get their chickens vaccinated and get the seal, or look for other customers for their eggs.

If you don't think that's a free market solution to the problem, you've forgotten what the free market is supposed to be.

Is the seal government sponsored, or solely done by the industry? If it is solely by the industry, than yes it is the free market. If it is a government sponsored seal (and as I said above - do not know if it is or not), then it is not really the free market.

British Egg Industry Council

Seems to be industry and not government.

The english system is free market and it seems to work.

What do you think would happen if there are stamped eggs next to unstamped eggs in America....and the unstamped eggs are .88 cents and the stamped eggs are $1.57?

So your response to questions about the issue of consumer freedom vs consumer safety is to wish a viral infection on me?

Did you learn that debate tactic in College or High school?

That must be so easy for you. Declare all the vocal conservatives stupid and ignore them.

You never ever debated me. You just screamed your point.

Pretend we are on Crossfire and go nuts!

creilman, do we know that DeCoster is getting "corporate welfare"?  I'm against any and all farm subsidies, so I'd be interested to hear if any government money is being channeled into companies paying fines for health violations.