Inspectors at the massive factory farms which distributed millions of contaminated eggs have found many obvious problems on those farms.

Visits to five Wright County Egg facilities found barns with abundant rodent holes and gaps in doors and siding where rodents, which can carry salmonella, could enter. Many live mice were spotted, according to the reports.

…workers were seen moving from barn to barn without changing protective clothing or cleaning tools. All that could allow workers could track bacteria from one barn to another.

The report also described pits beneath laying houses where manure was piled four to eight feet high and in such quantity that it pushed pit doors open. It described hens that had escaped from laying cages tracking through the manure — a possible means of spreading contamination.

In addition, a Wright County Egg feed mill had wild birds roosting and flying about feed bins and milling operations. Wild birds can carry salmonella.

The good news is that FDA inspectors plan to visit all the large egg production facilities in the country over the next 15 months, enforcing the tougher regulations that were recently added for chicken and egg production.

Personally, I’m going to continue to pay a bit more for eggs from a smaller producer that hasn’t had these problems. But I wish that all hens in this country were required to be vaccinated against salmonella. That’s a cheap and effective way to prevent the outbreaks.