But Cal-Maine’s chickens didn’t lay the diseased eggs. The eggs came from Ohio Fresh Eggs, whose biggest investor was Austin “Jack” DeCoster (who invested $125 million, according to Ohio court records). The two owners, Orland Bethel and Don Hershey, invested $10,000 apiece, the records show.
Mr. DeCoster and Mr. Bethel each own one of the two Iowa farms – Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, respectively – that distributed the 550 million eggs recalled this summer. The 1,600 reported cases of salmonella linked to those contaminated eggs constitute the largest outbreak since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began tracking salmonella in the late 1970s.
Repeat offender
This is not the first time that DeCoster's farming operations have been cited for problems. In June 2000, DeCoster became the first person labeled a “habitual violator” of Iowa’s environmental laws, meaning that his business had already been successfully sued at least three times by the Iowa attorney general.
Under Iowa state law, habitual violators can have daily fines quintupled from $5,000 to $25,000 and they are prohibited from expanding their business. Despite this, the Iowa Independent reports, DeCoster has found work-arounds that allow his agro-empire to keep growing.
