(DeCoster gives to Democrats. Chart from the Iowa Independent)
The mogul behind the great salmonella egg recall has piled up health and safety violations dating back to the mid-1990s, and his problems stretch back much further. Austin "Jack" DeCoster is the principal owner of Wright County Egg, which has recalled 380 million eggs this month. A second farm connected to DeCoster, Hillandale, has recalled 170 million eggs.
Conditions at DeCoster's operations in Turner, Maine, were so bad that in the 1970s he almost single-handedly inspired a state law banning kids from working around dangerous machines, reports the Portland Press-Herald. The paper notes that DeCoster paid $2 million to settle Department of Labor violations in 1997. Two years later, DeCoster paid $5 million to settle a class-action suit by underpaid workers, some of whom logged 80-hour weeks without overtime. And in 2002, DeCoster paid $3.2 million to settle a suit by Mexican workers who said they were given worse housing and working conditions than their white American colleagues. DeCoster has been accused of running an "agricultural sweatshop" and called a "habitual violator" of environmental laws by the Iowa Supreme Court.
And his egg empire has rolled on.
So yes, blame the Senate for not passing the food safety bill. That bill might have helped, but DeCoster was a problem way before the House passed its version and the Senate started dithering. If you look at DeCoster's campaign giving, as the Iowa Independent did, you'll see that it's fairly limited and directed toward Democratic causes.
Now comes the suggestion that you, the consumer, will get the DeCosters of the world in line. "The marketplace is making the determination if the law doesn't," said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
If that were true, DeCoster eggs would have been off supermarket shelves a decade ago, and not because of salmonella and but because of the way Jack DeCoster has treated his livestock and workers. What we're seeing here is the lack of meaningful regulation by the government, and worse, a failure of will to govern.
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To rack up violations (and SO MANY) during a period known infamously for its deregulatory zeal...that's an accomplishment. You really have to work hard to earn that kind of record. That would be like rolling hundreds of the MMS violations of the sort Deep Water Horizon got a pass on. Veeery impressive.
I totally agree. It seems like these stories are also eerily similar, that deregulation almost invites cutting corners, paying off inspectors, exploiting workers, profits over people, and loss of life is just considered "collateral damage." Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Well this is at least food related. Just thought of it because of the eggs and these maddow tweets:
I was reminded that one of the things I was doing before the Oil Spill here in Louisiana, was searching for the perfect Oyster Po-Boy. I was maybe going to write a freelance article about the experience. Roast Beef is alright it can be really good depending who's provided/cooked the roast beef. It can be done well, but often isn't. When I was a young child, I was afraid of seafood, crabs and crawfish with all the paddles and antennae, were sort of alien to me. But once I was brave enough to try my first fried oyster, I was hooked. Seafood is something done so well here in New Orleans and all of Louisiana, the food culture is something of a phenomenon. I won't order any other kind of po boy, but an oyster. But since the spill, no more seafood, or po boys for me. I am boycotting until scientists come to a consensus, not about whether the seafood is safe for me to eat, but whether it is safe for the seafood. I mean no one knows yet if these animals, and the environment of the Gulf, is out of the woods.