It’s a common if little-known practice in the food industry — salvaging and selling products that may have been tainted with disease. [...]
[Wright County Egg spokeswoman] Hinda Mitchell would not say whether the hens could wind up being used for meat — common practice for egg-laying hens once they pass about 18 months of age and become less productive.
A similar process has been used to salvage other raw products tainted with bacteria. Ground beef found to contain E. coli bacteria, for instance, is sometimes diverted for use in precooked products such as frozen meatballs, said Don Schaffner, a professor and microbiologist at Rutgers University. Tainted meat could also wind up being used in canned soup, he said.
Because the farms involved in the recall have so many hens, Schaffner said, “it would be a catastrophic waste if these hens were not going to be used in some way in the food supply.”
Yes, please don’t waste all those contaminated meats. Stuff them unannounced into our hungry mouths.
