Lichtenwalner quoted in AP, Sun Journal articles on Turner Egg Farm
Anne Lichtenwalner, a University of Maine professor, veterinarian and director of UMaine’s Animal Health Laboratory, was quoted in articles by the Sun Journal and Associated Press about a Turner egg farm. Four years ago, Jack DeCoster’s corporate entities leased his Maine farms to Moark LLC, which last month quietly leased them to Hillandale Farms Conn LLC, the same farm family involved with DeCoster in the massive Iowa salmonella outbreak in 2010, according to the Sun Journal. Lichtenwalner, who sits on a salmonella risk reduction team for the state, says Moark, a subsidiary of Land O’Lakes, has been “terrific” to work with, and she hopes for the same with Hillandale, the article states. “We are vitally interested in the health of Maine people (and) we want our state to have a poultry industry as well,” Lichtenwalner said. “We want transparency and we want collaboration, and I think that they are walking into a positive situation. One hopes that they embrace that.” Good hygiene; rodent control; processing eggs quickly; and happy, healthy birds can prevent the spread of salmonella within a barn, said Lichtenwalner, who added Maine hasn’t had a positive environmental salmonella enteritidis test in at least six years. “I think it’s been a combination of people working together with one goal in mind,” she said. “The producer doesn’t want to be in trouble; they don’t want to have all of the bad PR and economic problems and the obvious bad public health outcomes.” Fox Business and Centre Daily Times carried the AP report.