The VISION of Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT) is that one day all farms will be humane and healthy places to raise food animals.

The MISSION of Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT) is to improve the welfare of food producing animals. We seek to broaden opportunities for humane farmers, and address the public health problems that come from the production of meat, milk, and eggs.

In the wake of the massive egg recall, Food Animal Concerns Trust has long pushed for these Salmonella Enteritidis requirements. 

It is no surprise that Wright County Egg, an Iowa farm producing millions of eggs each week, is recalling eggs linked to hundreds of illnesses around the country.  In 1999, the USDA tested farms and found that egg farms with over 100,000 hens were much more likely to be contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) than smaller farms.  Since then numerous other studies have shown that as farms get bigger they are more likely to have SE.  SE is the most commonly detected strain of Salmonella and the most common cause of bacterial foodborne illness in the US.  SE differs from other forms of Salmonella because it can infect eggs before the shells are formed.

On July 9, 2010 large U.S. egg farms had to begin following new FDA rules requiring egg producers to test for and take steps to control SE.  Food Animal Concerns Trust has long pushed for these requirements and believes they will reduce the number of people becoming ill in the future.  It is unlikely that the new rules had any impact on this outbreak, because it began before the rules went into effect.

Wright County Egg is owned by the DeCoster agribusiness corporation which has a history of environmental, labor, and animal welfare violations.  Wright County Egg has not explained what it was doing, if anything, before the outbreak to keep SE contaminated eggs from making its customers sick.

Act Now! It's time for the FDA to end the overuse of antibiotics on farms.  Click here and ask the FDA to take concrete steps to reduce antibiotic overuse - not just talk about the problem.

Southern California Public Radio interviews FACT's Executive Director and KAW chair Richard Wood and PAMTA champion Rep. Slaughter. Listen to the interview Hold the penicillin burgers.