The problem is, nobody's laughing.
Two federal agencies are downplaying not noticing anything with regards to the massive egg recall that so far has hit 22 states and pulled back the curtain on government officials.
So far there has been 1,300 cases of salmonella poisoning and 500 million eggs have been recalled from two Iowa egg distributors.
One supplier linked to the cases has a history of violations dating back to 1994 -- but the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture says it never had an inspector dedicated to food safety at the farms.
According to an FDA, the FDA has traditionally been responsible for monitoring egg safety after the eggs are processed and the USDA is responsible for egg safety at the processing facilities.
Translated, this means they have done nothing to assure safety.
A USDA official, said that USDA agencies have had no involvement in food safety regulations over shell eggs. There job was to inspect them for thickness and cracks and other quality assurance factors in order to give them a USDA seal of approval. That approval however, does not certify that an egg is salmonella-free.
FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said that the new rules that went into effect last month giving the FDA authority to test eggs for salmonella "very likely" would have enabled the FDA to find the problem before the outbreak.
She said the FDA will conduct "hundreds" of inspections in the months ahead under its new authority.
President Clinton promised during a 1999 speech that there would be "extensive tests" at egg farms and said there would be an elimination of egg-based salmonella cases by 2010.
That never happen.
There are those who believe the FDA probably had some authority to inspect egg farms but just didn't do it.
The truth is, food safety has not been a major concern here.
We have this company repeatedly violating laws and no one was doing much about it.
We told you the egg counting will continue.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Monday more egg recalls most likely will be necessary in the face of salmonella outbreaks. The new recalls, if they are issued, would be the largest egg recall in recent history, more than half a billion eggs.
