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   From: maroons@barackobama.com   
      
   A self-made titan in the egg industry, his son and the Iowa   
   company they ran pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal food safety   
   violations stemming from a nationwide salmonella outbreak that   
   sickened thousands in 2010.   
      
   Austin "Jack" DeCoster and his son, Peter DeCoster, pleaded   
   guilty to misdemeanor charges of introducing adulterated food   
   into interstate commerce. U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett will   
   later decide their sentences, which could be up to one year in   
   jail, fines of $100,000 apiece and additional restitution for   
   victims.   
      
   In exchange for the DeCosters' guilty pleas, they will be   
   allowed to file a motion arguing that it would be   
   unconstitutional to sentence either of them to any type of   
   confinement, according to their Washington-based attorneys.   
      
   "That includes home confinement," attorney Frank Volpe said,   
   adding that it could likely several months before the DeCosters   
   are sentenced.   
      
   Their company, Quality Egg LLC, pleaded guilty to charges of   
   bribing a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector, selling   
   misbranded food and introducing adulterated food into interstate   
   commerce. The company has agreed to pay a $6.8 million fine —   
   one of the largest ever related to food safety — under a plea   
   deal that Bennett could accept or reject.   
      
   The guilty pleas were entered during hearings at the federal   
   courthouse in Sioux City. Jack DeCoster, 79, lives in Turner,   
   Maine. Peter DeCoster, 51, lives in Clarion in northern Iowa,   
   near the rural area where Quality Egg and its affiliates once   
   produced millions of eggs.   
      
   The salmonella outbreak prompted a recall of 550 million eggs by   
   Quality Egg and another Iowa company that used its feed and   
   chickens, and led to the collapse of the vast egg production   
   empire that DeCoster built from modest beginnings in Maine.   
   Federal investigators spent years scrutinizing its business   
   practices in the aftermath, as the DeCosters gave up control of   
   their egg production facilities in Iowa, Maine and Ohio and   
   settled dozens of legal claims from those who were sickened.   
      
   Plea agreements filed Monday say the company sold eggs that were   
   tainted with salmonella from January 2010 until August, when the   
   recalls were issued. Federal prosecutors said they found no   
   evidence that the DeCosters were aware they were selling tainted   
   products, but that as corporate officers, they can be held   
   legally responsible.   
      
   "They're acknowledging that it happened on their watch," said   
   defense attorney Tom Green.   
      
   The company admitted that former Quality Egg manager Tony   
   Wasmund and another employee bribed a now-deceased USDA   
   inspector on at least two occasions. Those bribes, including a   
   $300 cash payment, were meant to influence the inspector to   
   release pallets of eggs that had been retained for failing to   
   meet federal standards because too many were cracked, dirty or   
   leaking.   
      
   The company also admitted that, with Wasmund's approval, it had   
   a longstanding practice of putting false processing and   
   expiration dates on labels to make eggs appear fresher than they   
   were. That practice helped the company circumvent laws in   
   California, Arizona and elsewhere that require eggs to be sold   
   within 30 days of their processing dates.   
      
   Wasmund cooperated with prosecutors under a deal in which he   
   pleaded guilty to a bribery conspiracy. He could get a reduced   
   sentence in September for his cooperation.   
      
   DeCoster's egg empire expanded even as he racked up labor, food   
   safety and immigration violations. Bennett, the judge, sentenced   
   DeCoster to five years of probation in 2003 for knowingly hiring   
   people who were in the U.S. illegally.   
      
   http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/egg-titan-son-plead-guilty-   
   food-safety-case-23975785   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)