Maine agency says no evidence Turner egg facilities unsafe
Courtesy/ Ernie, FLICKR
Maine's Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry issued a statement on Wednesday saying that it will investigate a letter and video complaining of inhumane conditions at a shell egg production facility in Turner, but that in the meantime there is no threat to human health from eggs produced there.
Maine’s Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry issued a statement Wednesday saying it will investigate a complaint by the Humane Society of the United States to investigate a shell egg production facility in Turner, but said meantime there is no threat to human health from the eggs produced there.
“Food safety surveillance reports conducted at the state level … for the Hillandale facilities suggest that the eggs from the facility are safe for human consumption. This is ongoing surveillance, with years of data to support this claim,” the statement said.
It continued that DACF has had no reports of food safety violations at the facility now or in the recent past.
HSUS sent a letter and video complaining of inhumane conditions at the facility, which is owned by Jack DeCoster and operated by Hillandale Farms, based in Pennsylvania,
The results of an undercover operation secretly videoed for four weeks in May were released Tuesday by the HSUS, according to the Bangor Daily News.
“For one month we had a whistle-blower filming and found hideous animal cruelty and food safety issues,” the newspaper quoted Paul Shapiro, HSUS vice president, as saying Tuesday morning. “What we saw in that video is heartbreaking.”
According to the newspaper, Shapiro said the footage showed chickens “crammed into cages, dead birds rotting in cages with live birds actually laying eggs on the dead birds, massive piles of dead chickens, birds with their heads stuck in cages dying from dehydration inches away from water, massive amounts of rodents [and] a numerous other horrors.”
Photo: Ernie, Flickr
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