NY eggs safe; check the label for assurance

New York eggs are safe to eat. We at the New York Farm Bureau and the state's entire agricultural community want you, the consumer, to know that.

Certainly the recent salmonella headlines are scary. But those contaminated eggs you've been reading about came from a farm in Iowa that had a long track record of poor management.

Here in New York, we don't have farms like that. Our egg farms are family owned and family operated, and we take great pride in producing quality eggs. And we have one big ace up our sleeve, the New York State Egg Quality Assurance Program.

It is a cooperative effort of the New York Poultry Association, the state Department of Health and the state Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Currently, almost all of the shelled eggs produced in New York come from farms enrolled in this program. In fact, some retailers in New York won't even sell eggs unless they come from farms participating in the program.

Meanwhile the state agriculture department is renowned nationwide for its aggressive food safety inspection programs on both the retail and farm levels that apply to 100 percent of the operations in the food chain.

As a result of the proactive work done on New York egg farms, coupled with food safety measures at the retail level and vigilant government inspection and enforcement, there have been no human cases of salmonella related to New York produced eggs in more than a decade, according to the state Health Department.

There is a certain amount of caveat emptor (buyer beware) that applies to food shopping, as much as we expect the responsibility of food safety to be entirely on others, which means you need to read labels. When you reach into the supermarket cooler for those eggs, take a look at the label and make sure they come from New York. Look for the New York State Egg Quality Assurance Program label. If you are unsure where the eggs come from, check with the store owner or consumer affairs department.

Buying local not only means that the freshness and taste of your food is going to be maximized, but your safety will as well.

Dean Norton

Batavia

The writer is president of the New York Farm Bureau.