What's going on: Supplier in egg recall has a history of violations

More than 1,300 people sickened by salmonella poisoning so far.

Reed Saxon / The Associated PressA sign warns customers of the recall of certain lots of eggs that had been previously sold at a supermarket in Los Angeles, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010. Some 380 million eggs are being recalled on several states due to possible salmonella contamination in a case suspected to have caused hundreds of illnesses. No eggs currently on the shelf at this store were affected by the recall.

From The Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two Iowa farms that together recalled more than half a billion potentially tainted eggs this month share close ties, including suppliers of chickens and feed.

Both farms are linked to businessman Austin "Jack" DeCoster, who has been cited for numerous health, safety and employment violations over the years. DeCoster owns Wright County Egg, the original farm that recalled 380 million eggs Aug. 13 after they were linked to more than 1,000 reported cases of salmonella poisoning.

Another of his companies, Quality Egg, supplies young chickens and feed to both Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, the second farm that recalled another 170 million eggs a week later.

» No recalled eggs found in New York state [The Post-Standard]

» Eggs and salmonella: What you need to know [Los Angeles Times]

» 10 ways to get salmonella poisoning: tainted eggs aren't the only threat [CBS News]

» Scale of salmonella outbreak unknown [NPR]

» New egg rules haven't stopped salmonella [The Atlantic]