UDAF Enters Partnership To Ensure Safety And Quality Of Utah Egg Industry

The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) signed a multi-agency partnership agreement with various federal and local agencies to continue the safeguard of Utah egg and poultry products.

The Partnership Agreement's principal considerations are to enhance food safety and consumer protection through education and the sharing of information among government and industry. It establishes a framework by which state and federal agencies and Utah egg producers will address various health and product quality issue. The agreement also establishes specific responsibilities for each agency to address regarding product safety and human health.

Participating agencies in the partnership are: The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, the Utah Department of Health, The U. S. Department of Agriculture-APHIS-VS, the Denver District of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the member of the Utah Egg Quality Assurance Plan.

This is one of the first such agreements reached in the United States. Two other state, California and South Caroline also have similar agreements in place.

According to FDA's Paul Teitell, "Utah's plan is better than those in California and South Carolina because it has more broad based support by industry and government. We can't say enough about the positive aspect of it."

"This Partnership Agreement creates a cooperative atmosphere between producers and food and health regulators that will best benefit all concerned," said, Kyle Stephens, director of the Division of Regulatory Services.

Work to create the agreement began eight months ago when industry leaders asked the UDAF to help them set up a more coordinated approach to egg health and safety.

The agreement contains 23 core components such as:

• Develop a farm/premises flock egg quality assurance plan.
• Designate employee(s) as the official quality control supervisor(s) for in-house operations and for follow-up training.
• Maintain an effective flock health program to include vaccinations, monitoring and periodic necropsy of mortality or cull birds.
• Potable water with less than 2 ppm of iron shall be used.
• Refrigerate eggs according to applicable federal, state or local laws.

Posted March 24, 1998