- Food, Energy, and Agriculture Commentary, Press Release
- September 2, 2010
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Democrat Francis Thicke says Iowa Ag Secretary should step up, take responsibility
by Press ReleaseIowa Code gives Agriculture Secretary authority to ensure safety of poultry feed
DES MOINES, Iowa, September 2, 2010 – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture candidate Francis Thicke (pronounced TICK-ee) today called on his opponent to explain why “habitual violator” Austin “Jack” DeCoster was allowed to avoid feed mill inspections that could have identified a strain of Salmonella Enteritidis before 1,470 Americans were sickened and a half billion eggs were recalled.
In a statement to reporters, Thicke said:
“The egg recall is a national embarrassment to the state of Iowa that threatens consumer confidence in the foods that we produce. For my opponent to defer all responsibility to federal authorities, when Iowa law gave him authority to ensure the safety of the feed thought to be the cause of the Salmonella contamination, calls into question his leadership and commitment to the integrity of Iowa’s food and agriculture.”
The egg recall scandal is damaging the image of Iowa agriculture, and the Iowa Ag Secretary should be front and center on this issue. Instead Bill Northey has issued no official statements and has not even acknowledged the recall on either his department or his campaign web site. He did tell KAAL-TV in Austin, Minn., that “I think we do take for granted food safety and we take for granted the fact that most people do things right.”
An agriculture secretary who takes food safety for granted is taking for granted that operators like Jack DeCoster will do the right thing, even though history has shown that time and again that he will pursue profit over worker safety, public health and environmental protection.
Iowa code gives responsibility for the safety of commercial feed to the Secretary of Agriculture. The Secretary is charged with licensing and inspecting feed mills. However, the department exempted the feed mill which supplied feed for both Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms from licensing and inspection.
Bill Northey’s answer for not licensing and inspecting that mill is that the department has exempted farmers who grind their own feed. But, the mill in question provides feed for two huge egg-laying facilities and produces about 300,000 tons of feed a year, enough to fill about 12,500 semi trucks. This is certainly not what I would consider a farmer feed mill.
Clearly, this kind of exemption is appropriate to allow family farmers to feed their own livestock without burdening them with a lot of government red tape and bureaucracy. However, it is ludicrous to extend that exemption to the mill providing feed to these two industrial-scale operations responsible for the Salmonella food poisoning. Did Secretary Northey exempt that mill by design, or is he just being derelict in his responsibilities?
Bill Northey denies that he has any authority related to the contaminated eggs, and he has given no indication that he wants authority in this arena. If I were Secretary of Agriculture, I would use the authority already present in Iowa code, and if there were still holes in the federal regulatory process, I would request the Iowa Legislature to take action to ensure food safety. Iowa deserves a Secretary of Agriculture who is willing to step forward to provide leadership and take the actions necessary to resolve this issue and avoid future problems.
FRANCIS THICKE BACKGROUND:
Francis Thicke has been a full-time farmer for 27 years, is a scientist with a Ph.D. in agronomy/soil fertility, and has worked in the past at the USDA in Washington, D.C., where he served as National Program Leader for Soil Science. A frequently consulted national expert on agricultural sustainability, Thicke and his wife, Susan, own and operate an 80-cow organic, grass-based dairy near Fairfield, where they process milk on the farm into bottled milk, yogurt and cheese marketed locally through Fairfield grocery stores and restaurants. For additional information on his campaign for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, go to www.ThickeForAgriculture.com
1 Comment
good luck man. kick your opponents butt! i don’t live in your state but i am so sick of these corporate cronies, the kind that you are running against. i recently read about the Koch’s in that New Yorker article and all the Monsanto nonsense over the years is just sickening. it just saddens me to know what is happening with our political structure. if you get elected, please remember the ideals and platform you ran on to get to that position and be true to yourself and your constituents once your there. we can beat this money game. when we die we can’t take that crap with us. it means nothing. we can only judge ourselves based on the way we treat other people. fight the good fight! i hope you win.