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Tony Wasmund, Manager Of Egg Farm Behind Outbreak, Pleads Guilty To Bribing USDA Inspector

Comments 20
15 Sep 2012
,
by colleysusan
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The author of The Nutrition Post.

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- A manager at the Iowa egg farms linked to the nationwide salmonella outbreak in 2010 pleaded guilty Wednesday for his role in a conspiracy to bribe a federal inspector to allow the sale of unapproved eggs.

Former DeCoster Farms manager Tony Wasmund acknowledged he conspired with at least one other person to bribe a public official in order to sell restricted eggs and misbranded food during a plea hearing in Sioux City, federal prosecutors said.

Wasmund, 61, of Wilmar, Minn., is a former manager in the network of companies owned by Jack DeCoster, whose huge egg production operations in rural northern Iowa were blamed for the outbreak that caused the recall of 550 million eggs and sickened roughly 2,000. He is the first to face charges from the government's criminal investigation of the outbreak, which has involved an Iowa-based grand jury hearing testimony from former workers.

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  1. yumitori September 15, 2012 at 7:19 pm
    Knowingly selling tainted eggs. In a way he's very lucky; if anyone had died, the charges would be even more serious.
  2. Russst September 15, 2012 at 6:45 pm
    I've said it before and I'll say it again: many people in charge of businesses have no ethics/bad morals. People could have died because these fools didn't take responsible action, whether it be destroying infected chickens, or what. They knew about the disease in their chickens. As far as I'm concerned, the people involved should be tried in a court for 2000 cases of attempted murder. There needs to be accountabiliy....real accountability. If you run a business, be ethical and do the right thing, each and every time.
  3. Oginikwe September 15, 2012 at 3:51 pm
    Right. It doesn't tell us where this went. I was however researching the ties between colleges and corporations and was very surprised at how cheaply some people can be bought.
  4. hphp September 15, 2012 at 1:25 pm
    He needs the humans to buy his product. He apparently forgot that little detail.
  5. hphp September 15, 2012 at 1:24 pm
    What a lovely human being. All that matters to him is the almighty dollar. He knowingly sickened thousands of people just to make more money. I would love to sit on the jury for his trial.
  6. J David Auner September 15, 2012 at 1:16 pm
    Salmonella is a distraction to the real problem in the egg industry - animal feed produced with used fryer vat oil from the restaurants, the chip industry and fast food joints where terrible abuse and oxidation occurs over long periods of time. The consumers of these cheap products are slowly poisoned causing insulin resistance and then obesity complicated by dementia, cancer and clots. Where are the reports of the pay offs to USDA bosses and congress by the big money?
  7. Oginikwe September 15, 2012 at 11:51 am
    $300? Really? It's mind boggling at how cheaply people sell their integrity.
  8. Oginikwe September 15, 2012 at 11:50 am
    It is also a direct result of the feed. You shouldn't force these confined animals into cannibalism and they are fed all kinds of offal as well as manure from all different animals.
  9. xstevejx September 15, 2012 at 7:09 am
    Assuming it was sold!
  10. plantbasedpunk September 13, 2012 at 11:46 am
    Not surprised. After all, he's in the business of exploiting, mutilating, confining and slaughtering thousands if not billions of animals. What makes you think he'd care anything for the well-being of humans?
  11. Dave503 September 13, 2012 at 10:51 am
    The salmonella problem in poultry and eggs (as well as the e. coli problem in cattle) is the result of adding antibiotics to the feeds they are given. Bacteria from the victims can often be traced to the feedlots and poultry/egg producers (identical bacterial genome in the animals and the human victims). Antibiotics make the animal grow faster with less feed, hence profits are higher. Unfortunately, the consumer is the one getting sick.
  12. invmartyc September 13, 2012 at 10:05 am
    I would say that such breaches of the public trust would require a prison term.
  13. maverick9808 September 13, 2012 at 9:29 am
    This sort of thing happens all the time, i remember back in college i did a research paper on this and over half of the some 30 companies in the late ninties hired by the government where caught receiving bribes and allowing big agra and dairy to sell inferior products which were not what they claimed. The issue is even worse due to the regulations for organic which have stipulations which leave rule exclusion up to inspectors.
  14. Baron Hans September 13, 2012 at 5:23 am
    that is a great idea. now lets do that for the 537 schmucks in dc the ones we elect....
  15. Baron Hans September 13, 2012 at 5:23 am
    new inspectors make anywhere from 30-52k a couple of yrs experience up to 60k, stay with the program to retirement you are looking at an easy 6 figures....
  16. Ole Fart September 13, 2012 at 4:46 am
    and all along, we thought he was the "good" egg...
  17. cqdeed September 13, 2012 at 4:03 am
    It doesn't state the Federal Employee was fired or charged because it does not state whether the bribe was sucessful. It only states that the guy that was charged authorized the bribe. And that is all. You don't even know if the bribe was actually offered but you are ready to fire and charge a bunch of people. How about waiting for the investigation to be completed before you break out your lynching rope.
  18. thomasthomasmmm September 12, 2012 at 9:12 pm
    A $300 Bribe to a Government Employee, and 2000 people get sick. Where's the prison sentence for these people. It doesn't even state that the Federal Employees was fired or charged. Whats wrong with this picture?
  19. garkev8 September 12, 2012 at 8:00 pm
    What kind of money does a food inspector make if they can be bribed for $300 dollars,thats not a whole lot of money.
  20. LLeGrande September 12, 2012 at 4:41 pm
    I propose one week in jail for every person sickened because of this intentional fraud upon the public. Let's see - 2000 weeks equals about 40 years in prison. That should teach this guy - and any others who would try similar scams - a real good lesson. A week for each individual is certainly less than the amount of time each of the recipients of this unnecessary illness spent being sick.

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