DES MOINES — A Fairfield Democrat who wants to be Iowa’s next agriculture secretary said Thursday he would do more to ensure food safety and timely inspections that would avoid the potential for repeats of the massive egg recall linked to salmonella contamination at Iowa production facilities.
Democrat Francis Thicke called a Statehouse news conference to demand that Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey, a Spirit Lake Republican, explain why Austin “Jack” DeCoster, who had previously been tagged as a “habitual violator” by state officials, was allowed to avoid feed-mill inspections that could have identified a salmonella strain before 1,470 Americans were sickened and a half billion eggs were recalled.
“Bill Northey denies that he has any authority related to the contaminated eggs, and he has given no indication that he wants authority in this arena,” Thicke said. “If I were secretary of agriculture, I would use the authority already present in Iowa code, and if there were still holes in the federal regulatory process, I would request the Iowa legislature to take action to ensure food safety.”
Thicke called the egg recall a “national embarrassment” that is threatening consumer confidence in Iowa’s food production and hurting producers who are operating properly and responsibly.
“For my opponent to defer all responsibility to federal authorities, when Iowa law gave him authority to ensure the safety of the feed thought to be the cause of the salmonella contamination, calls into question his leadership and commitment to the integrity of Iowa’s food and agriculture,” Thicke said.
Northey should be “front and center” on an egg recall scandal that is damaging the image of Iowa agriculture, Thicke said, adding that “an agriculture secretary who takes food safety for granted is taking for granted that operators like Jack DeCoster will do the right thing, even though history has shown that time and again that he will pursue profit over worker safety, public health and environmental protection.”
The agriculture secretary’s department is responsible for the safety of commercial feed under Iowa law and is charged with licensing and inspecting feed mills, Thicke said. However, he said, the department exempted the feed mill that supplied feed for both Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms from licensing and inspection.
Northey’s answer for not licensing and inspecting that mill, Thicke said, was that the department has exempted farmers who grind their own feed.
“But the mill in question provides feed for two huge egg-laying facilities and produces about 300,000 tons of feed a year, enough to fill about 12,500 semi trucks,” he said. “This is certainly not what I would consider a farmer feed mill.”
Thicke said he supports allowing family farmers to feed their own livestock without burdening them with a lot of government red tape and bureaucracy, but he said “it is ludicrous” to extend that exemption to the mill providing feed to these two industrial-scale operations responsible for the salmonella food poisoning.
“Did Secretary Northey exempt that mill by design, or is he just being derelict in his responsibilities?” he said.
Northey or a campaign spokesman were not immediately available for comment but planned to issue a response later Thursday.
