Pa. Egg Farm Inspection Program a Model for Feds

In the wake of a salmonella outbreak, federal inspectors will descend upon the nation's largest egg farms in the coming months, but Pennsylvania is already ahead of the game.

KYW's Tony Romeo reports it may be a big reason why Pennsylvania has been unscathed by the salmonella egg outbreak. 

The state already has an extensive egg farm inspection program, developed after a similar problem here 15 years ago.  And Lydia Johnson, assistant director of the state Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory, says when FDA inspectors head out to inspect the nation's largest egg farms, they'll be using many best practices developed in Pennsylvania.  She says 80 percent of the state's egg producers are part of the Pennsylvania Egg Quality Assurance Program:

"It was actually the program that the FDA based their egg rule and inspections upon.  So we are very much the cutting edge."

The FDA plans to inspect farms that have more than 50,000 laying hens, Pennsylvania already inspects farms with 3,000 or more.