The owner of Iowa egg farms implicated in a national outbreak of salmonella expressed remorse Wednesday, apologized to anyone who might have fallen ill, and said he prays daily for those who became sick. "We were horrified to learn that our eggs may have made people sick," Wright County Egg owner Austin "Jack" DeCoster said during testimony before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on investigations,
CNN reported. "We apologize to everyone who may have been sickened by eating our eggs. I pray several times each day for all of them and for their improved health."
DeCoster acknowledged that his company’s chicken and hog farms failed to meet food safety rules as they grew, adding, "I am sorry for those failings. I accept responsibility for those mistakes in our operations."
State regulators in the Northeast and Midwest have cited DeCoster’s farms repeatedly.
A protester carrying a banner proclaiming "recall ALL egg production" interrupted DeCoster’s testimony, CNN reported.
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