The Iowa egg farms apparently responsible for the recent salmonella outbreak have been named in a class action lawsuit, brought on behalf of six consumers who became sick after eating tainted eggs.
The suit, filed Wednesday in a Chicago federal court, says that Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms failed to adequately and properly test, inspect and comply with federal and statutory regulations, leading to the outbreak that sickened over 1,500 consumers.
Kenneth Moll, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told Chicago ABC affiliate WLS-TV that the class could eventually grow to over 76,000 people.
The class members include every purchaser and consumer of eggs from both farms from April of this year to August, Moll said. The class seeks reimbursement for everyone who purchased these eggs.
The suit is the first nationwide class action brought over the incident.
The complaint alleges that the farms failed to utilize and/or implement a reasonably sterile environment in the manufacture of eggs; and failed to manufacture eggs in a reasonably safe condition for public consumption. The plaintiffs' attorneys are planning to personally inspect the farms over the next few weeks, an effort they hope will turn up additional evidence.
More bad news
Over the past few weeks, things have gone from bad to worse for the farms that appear to be at the epicenter of the outbreak. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that both farms had a number of serious health violations, including rodent and bug infestations, manure, holes in the walls, and dead flies too numerous to count. FDA official Michael Taylor said the conditions represented significant deviations from what should be happening.
Congressional investigations currently underway have uncovered shocking information about one of the the farms' safety records. The House Energy and Commerce Committee discovered documents showing that testing for salmonella at Wright County Egg came back positive 426 times in the period between 2008 and 2010. Up to 67 of those results were this year alone.
Making matters worse, the committee's leadership says that Wright County Egg CEO Jack DeCoster didn't provide those documents when Congress asked him for data in August.
In a joint letter to DeCoster, chairman Henry Waxman and subcommittee chairman Bart Stupak told DeCoster to come prepared to explain why your facilities tested potentially positive for salmonella on so many occasions ... and whether you shared these results with FDA or other federal or state food safety official.
The named plaintiffs are from Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New York and Mississippi. They are seeking disgorgement of profits from the contaminated eggs, compensatory and punitive damages, and the creation of a monitoring program that can respond to health problems facing class members.
