Egg Recall : Were Iowa Farms Targets Of Bioterrorism?

The massive egg recall, now into its first full week, involves an estimated 550 million eggs but from just two Iowa Farms, The Wright Egg Company and Hillandale Farms.

According to ABC News, the salmonella bacteria contamination has now sickened 2,000 people, up from just 1,000 people a few days ago. But just how did this happen?

There's still no official answer to that question. The effected eggs were transported and sold under the following major brands: Lucerne, Mountain Dairy, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Albertson, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, James Farms, Glenview, Mountain Dairy, Ralph's, Boomsma's, Lund, Dutch Farms, Kemps and Pacific Coast. That's a very significant portion of the total market of egg retailers.

Given that regulators can't spot a reason for the contamination, the fact that it seems two very key egg farms were impacted, and the resultant giant spread of the contamination, it's only reasonable to speculate if it could have been the work of bioterrorists?

To date, that question has not been widely introduced or discussed at all in the media. And while it may seem far-fetched to some, this blogger discovered a 2004 online document entitled SALMONELLOSIS: Bioterrorism Agent Profiles for Health Care Workers and by the Arizona Department of Health Services.

In it, the section focuses on how the bacteria Salmonella could come to be in the food supply, states that the mortality rate is "slow to moderate," and states that "In a terrorist attack, salmonellosis would most likely occur due to intentional contaminationof food or water supplies."

The document comes under the heading "Bioterrorism & Epidemic Preparedness & Response" on this web page of the Arizona DHS called "Bureau of Epidemiology & Disease Control."

The Arizona DHS defines Bioterrorism as...

Bioterrorism is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria or other germs (agents) to cause illness or death in people, animals or plants. These agents are typically found in nature, but can be altered to enhance their morbidity rate, resistant to medicines and virulence.

Biological agents can be spread through the air or water or in food. Terrorists may use biological agents because they can be difficult to detect and have incubation periods of several hours to several days.

Salmonellosis is called a "Category B Disease" where it is "moderately easy to disseminate, results in moderate morbidity rates and low mortality rates, and require specific enhancements of CDC's diagnostic capacity and enhanced disease surveillance."

Why Is The Media Avoiding Bioterrorism Talk?

To date, the causes of The Egg Recall have focused allegations that a man named Austin "Jack" DeCoster, the owner of The Wright County Egg company, was a frequent violator of heath and safety regulations. But the problem is the egg recall impacts not one, but two farms. Jack DeCoster only owns one of them.

One listing for Hillandale Farms, as listed online, is headquartered in Pennsylvania and by Gary R Bethel, Orland R Bethel, and Steve Vendemia in 2004. A search for Hillandale Farms Of Iowa at 2128 McCloud Ave. New Hampton, Iowa 50659 641-394-4116, does not return a corporate website. This is the only website for Hillandale Farms at http://www.hillandalefarms.com. The media has not listed the name of the owner of Hillandale Farms.

The website reads:

Hillandale Farms is one of the nations leading supplier of shell eggs. With production facilities in the northeast, midwest and southeast, Hillandale Farms supplies retailers and distributors throughout the eastern half of the United States.

So, we can assume that Hillandale Farms is headquatered in Pennsylvania because this website page lists Gary Bethel as the company president, and is in the same design as the other site related to the Iowa location. It reads:

Hillandale Farms remains a family run business. Company president, Gary Bethel, continues to reinforce the core competencies that has enabled the company to grow:

For some reason, someone has an interest in putting out a lot of bad information about Jack DeCoster, and the media, as was the case with The Huffington Post using Associated Press material, has taken the bait hook, line, and sinker. And avoiding any look at Hillandale Farms in the process.

But suppose it's a cover to cause the media to avoid talk of Bioterrorism? There's no question that DeCoster would be the perfect fall person here.

But the reality is there may be more farm owners who have the same issues, it's just that it really looks like someone at some PR firm somewhere was hired to crank out information on DeCoster. Information the Associated Press is distributing without question.

That's fishy.

Stay tuned for more.