On August 18, the FDA announced a recall of eggs from Wright County Egg over concerns about Salmonella enteritidis contamination. On August 20, the FDA expanded the recall to include eggs from Hillandale Farms in Iowa. The recall now includes about 550 million eggs. Although that’s a lot of eggs, it’s actually a small portion of the 80 billion eggs sold each year.
Salmonella enteritidis most often causes diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever. It can be serious in children, the elderly, and immunocompromised. Although the CDC does not know exactly how many people were sickened by these eggs, they do know almost 2000 cases have been reported recently, compared to 700 in the same period lat year. The recalled eggs may be responsible for most of the observed increase in cases.
Both farms are linked to Austin "Jack" DeCoster, whose egg operations have been cited for numerous safety and health violations in the past. From an interview with a Cornell University food safety expert at Cornell University, one article reported the source of the outbreak could be rodents, shipments of contaminated hens, or tainted feed. He further explained in the piece, “Both plants could have a rodent problem, or both plants could have gotten hens that were already infected, or feed that was contaminated.”
To tell if your eggs that have been recalled, you can check the FDA website.
