Recalls
California Egg Company Recalls 1.7M Dozens of Shell Eggs Over Salmonella Outbreak
Image by Szűcs László via Unsplash.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis infections connected to brown cage-free eggs and brown certified organic eggs supplied by August Egg Company in Hilmar, California.
Based on epidemiological information collected by the CDC, 79 people infected with the outbreak strain have been reported from seven states. Illnesses started on dates ranging from Feb. 24 to May 17. Nearly all (27) of 30 cases with information available reported exposure to eggs or an egg-containing dish before becoming ill. There have been 21 hospitalizations, and no deaths have been reported.
As part of this investigation, the FDA conducted traceback based on where ill people reported shopping or eating eggs during the timeframe of interest, and August Egg Company was identified as a common supplier. The agency also conducted an inspection and collected environmental samples at August Egg Company’s processing facility. Two samples from this inspection were positive for Salmonella and found to be a whole genome sequencing match to the strain of Salmonella causing illnesses in this outbreak.
August Egg Company is voluntarily recalling 1.7 million dozens of shell eggs distributed between Feb. 3 and May 15. They were distributed to Save Mart, FoodMaxx, Lucky, Smart & Final, Safeway, Raleys, Food 4 Less and Ralphs stores in California and Nevada, as well as Walmart locations in California, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, New Mexico, Nebraska, Indiana and Illinois.
Brands the recalled eggs were sold under include Clover, First Street, Nulaid, O Organics, Marketside, Raleys, Simple Truth, Sun Harvest and Sunnyside.
August Egg Company began diverting all eggs to an egg breaker in May. This breaking facility processes eggs to eliminate the Salmonella risk.
“August Egg Company’s internal food safety team also is conducting its own stringent review to identify what measures can be established to prevent this situation from recurring,” the company says. “We are committed to addressing this matter fully and to implementing all necessary corrective actions to ensure this does not happen again.”
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