Finding the good eggs, rejecting the bad

One of many reasons for regulation, and follow-up inspections.

San Francisco Chronicle/Rachael Gordon, 4/8/12. "Busy time for F.F.'s egg inspectors."

Selling eggs in California isn't all it's cracked up to be.  With Easter celebrated Sunday and Passover under way, the egg holds a prominent spot on the spring holiday table. And agricultural inspectors in the state want to make sure that before the eggs are sold, they're not broken, dirty, rotten, out-of-date, underweight or in any way tainted. If the sleuths find a bad egg, they're either dumped on the spot or sent back to the production facility.  

Every county in California has an egg-inspection program funded through the state by the egg industry. Most counties rely on state inspectors to do the work. But in 15 jurisdictions, the California Department of Food and Agriculture contracts with the counties to handle the load. 

San Francisco, which got $3,884 from the state this year to fund 198 inspections, has a pair of agriculture inspectors from the Department of Public Health who spend a few hours each week on an official egg hunt. Last year, they examined 50,508 eggs at supermarkets, mom and pop shops, the Wholesale Produce Market and farmers' markets. Of those, 15,120 eggs, or 30 percent, were rejected, said San Francisco Agricultural Commissioner Miguel Monroy.

Not every egg sold in the city is inspected, but every egg retailer or wholesaler chances a visit from Aldo Zuniga or the city's other agriculture inspector."We don't make appointments, we just show up," Zuniga said.  Read more. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh