WASHINGTON — The owner of one of two Iowa egg farms linked to as many as 1,600 salmonella illnesses declined to testify at a congressional hearing Wednesday, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

The CEO of Hillandale Farms, Orland Bethel, wouldn’t answer questions before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on investigations. The owner of Wright County Egg, Austin “Jack” DeCoster, testified that he was “horrified” to learn than his products might have been the cause of the illnesses.

Hillandale Farms and Wright County Egg recalled a half-billion eggs in August after tests of products turned up potentially positive for Salmonella Enteritidis, the strain responsible for the recent outbreak. Wright County Egg operates one of Hillandale’s barns and supplies feed to the company.

Before lawmakers called Bethel to testify, two witnesses recounted how they were sickened by tainted eggs. Sarah Lewis, 30, a resident of California, said she still has diarrhea, fevers and stress in spite of a trip to the intensive care unit and several weeks of sickness after eating a custard tart at her sister’s graduation banquet. Her sister also contracted salmonella poisoning, she said.

“Knowing how sick we were scares the heck out of us now,” Lewis said.

Carol Loboto, 77, of Littleton, Colo., teared up as she described a loss in stamina and constant indigestion.

Advertisement

The chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said the outbreak paints “a very disturbing picture of egg production in America.” Members of the subcommittee showed photos of dead chickens, bugs and piles of manure in hen houses.

An investigation by the House subcommittee found that Wright County Egg had received hundreds of positive results for salmonella in the last two years, including 73 samples that were potentially positive for Salmonella Enteritidis.

Although Bethel declined to testify, another Hillandale employee, Duane Mangskau, said the recall has forced the company to take a hard look at its operations.

After reading his prepared testimony, DeCoster, 75, had trouble answering some of the committee’s questions, trailing off at times, speaking slowly and reading pieces of paper given to him by his lawyer. He told the committee that he was hard of hearing.

His son Peter, the company’s CEO, took most of the questions, though committee members tried to get the older DeCoster to speak.

While acknowledging that conditions at the farm bother him “a lot,” Jack DeCoster did not say much about the company’s efforts to prevent salmonella contamination beyond that his employees handle their duties “in a certain way.”

Advertisement

“This is a complicated subject. I have to take it piece by piece,” Jack DeCoster said.

Peter DeCoster tangled with Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, as Waxman asked about conditions at the farms. DeCoster took issue with Food and Drug Administration findings of filthy conditions at the farms, saying the agency’s reports were partially true. He said the company believes an ingredient purchased from a supplier may be to blame for the outbreak.

“It sounds like to me like both of you are refusing to take responsibility for a very poor facility,” Waxman said. “For you to come before us and say ‘it’s the feed, we have nothing to do with it’ is hard for me to believe and accept on face value.”

Jack DeCoster is no stranger to tangling with the government. He has paid millions of dollars in state and federal fines over at least two decades for health, safety, immigration and environmental violations at his farms.

“We were horrified to learn that our eggs may have made people sick,” Jack DeCoster said in the prepared testimony he read. “We apologize to every one who may have been sickened by eating our eggs, I pray several times each day for all of them and for their improved health.”

Peter DeCoster said the company has made “sweeping biosecurity and food safety changes” following the recall and will remove all their flocks that have not been vaccinated against the strain of salmonella linked to the illnesses. Such vaccinations are not required by the government. On site inspections and testing will also increase, he said.

Advertisement

Peter DeCoster also said the FDA inspected the company’s feed mill in May and found no deficiencies. That is contrary to previous statements from the agency, which has said FDA has no inspectional history with the companies.

The specific cause of the outbreak is still unknown, and the FDA is still investigating.

No deaths have been reported due to the outbreak. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said this is the largest outbreak of this strain of salmonella since the start of the agency’s surveillance of outbreaks in the late 1970s. For every case reported, there may be 30 that are unreported.

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.