DES MOINES ? The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship Wednesday announced it will resume inspections of state inspected egg handlers on June 1, 2016. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also announced that they will resume inspection of federally licensed egg handling facilities starting on June 1.
All Department inspectors have received additional training on appropriate biosecurity on visiting livestock and poultry farms and will continue to follow rigorous biosecurity protocols as part of the inspections to help ensure animal health.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship inspects egg handlers that package eggs from licensed facilities that house fewer than 3000 birds. Larger houses, with 3000 birds and up, and their packaging facilities are FDA licensed and are subject to their inspections.
The FDA temporarily suspended inspection of federal licensed facilities last spring during the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreak in Iowa and 20 other states. The Department followed the lead of FDA and also suspended inspections last spring out of an abundance of caution to ensure that Department employees would not serve as a potential source of disease spread.
