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Petition filed to change FDA egg rule
The National Chicken Council is urging the Food and Drug Administration to change its rules on “surplus” hatching eggs to offset the negative market impact still in place from the Avian Influenza outbreak.
The Council’s Tom Super says the FDA changed surplus egg storage at broiler facilities in 2010 – requiring them to be kept at 45 degrees Fahrenheit if they were to be sent to breaking facilities. He says those eggs are stored at 65 degrees because any warmer and they may hatch prematurely – any cooler than 60 degrees and they lose their viability to hatch. Super tells Brownfield Ag News, “We estimated last year about 356-Million of these eggs that we virtually had to throw away because of this rule.”
Super says the National Chicken Council fought the rule five years ago but now that Avian influenza has affected the poultry and egg laying hen industries prices have gone up for consumers, for the processing egg industry and the broiler industry. Super says they want the FDA to lift the rule, saying it will, “Help consumers with prices, you know, especially as we head into the holiday baking season; allow us to not waste a perfectly wholesome product; and, allow us to relax some of the imports that we’ve had to use to make up the supply from countries such as the Netherlands and Canada.”
The Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Association for Dressings and Sauces have signed the petition with the National Chicken Council asking the FDA to lift the rule.
AUDIO: Interview with Tom Super
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