Massive egg recall: How to check your carton for recalled eggs
(Photo: FDA)
Eggs are packed in 6- 12- or 18-egg cartons with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 225 and plant numbers 1026, 1413, and 1946.
EDIT: 1026, 1413, 1946, 1720, 1942, 1951, 1686, 1091
Dates and codes can be found stamped on the end of the egg carton. The plant number begins with the letter P and then the number. The Julian date follows the plant number, for example: P-1946 223.
Consumers should not eat the eggs and should return recalled eggs to the store where they were purchased for a full refund.
Bacterial contamination on modern industrial-scale chicken farms (factories, really) is a growing problem. Cramped conditions are breeding grounds for disease. Widespread use of antibiotics is creating drug-resistant strains of bacteria.
One antidote to the problem is to choose locally sourced eggs from farms that allow their chickens to run free. Though be aware that the label "free range" doesn't mean what you might think.
Salmonella poisoning symptoms
Within 6-to-72 hours of eating an egg, you may experience lower abdominal cramps, diarrhea (sometimes bloody), vomiting, fever, chills, malaise, nausea or headache. Symptoms may persist for as long as a week. While most people recover without treatment, some patients require hospitalization.
Among the 21,244 cases of foodborne illness reported from tainted food-related outbreaks in the United States in 2007 (the last year for which data is available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), salmonella was the No. 2 cause of illness, causing 27% of foodborne illness outbreaks, including 55% of multi-state outbreaks, and 81 illnesses attributed to salmonella in eggs; five deaths resulted from salmonella-contaminated food. The two biggest foodborne illness outbreaks that year were caused by salmonella, in hummus and frozen pot pies.
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Second Farm Recalls Eggs: 2,000 Sickened in Salmonella Outbreak
The eggs were sent to California, among other states across the country.
LOS ANGELES -- Hundreds of people in California have been sickened in a salmonella outbreak linked to tainted eggs and now another farm is issuing its own recall.
Iowa's Hillandale Farms said Friday that it was recalling its eggs after laboratory tests confirmed illnesses associated with them.
The company did not say how many eggs were being recalled or if it is connected to Wright County Egg, the Iowa farm that recalled 380 million eggs earlier this week.
But an FDA spokeswoman said the two recalls were related.
The strain of salmonella poisoning is the same strain linked to Wright County Egg.
The eggs were sold under the brand names Hillandale Farms, Sunny Farms and Sunny Meadow, and were distributed to grocery wholesalers, retail grocery outlets and food service companies in California, Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin the company said in a statement.
The eggs were packaged in six-, dozen-, 18- and 30-egg cartons, and in five-dozen cases, the company said. Other eggs were packaged under the Wholesome Farms and West Creek brands in 15 and 30-dozen tray packs.
The company said that consumers who bought these brands should check the egg cartons for two key identifying stamps.
One is the number of the plant in which the eggs were produced — P1860 or P1663.
The second is the so-called Julian or packing date codes — in this case, ranging from 099 to 230 for cartons with a plant number of 1860, and from 137 to 230 for cartons with a plant number of 1663.
In the first recall: The eggs from Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, are marketed under a number of brand names, including Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph's, Boomsma's, Sunshine, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps..
Companies in the following states received the eggs: California, Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.
The recalled eggs are packed in varying sizes of cartons, including six-egg, dozen-egg and 18-egg cartons, and loose eggs for institutional use and repackaging, the Food and Drug Administration said.
The cartons have date codes stamped at one end, ranging from 136 to 229 and plant numbers 1026, 1413, 1720, 1942 or 1946.
The F.D.A. said the plant number is preceded by the letter P, followed by the date code
California has reported 266 illnesses since June and believes many are related to the eggs.
Dozens of those people are in Los Angeles County.
"Public health is coordinating with state and federal agencies on this issue," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, L.A. County's top health officer.
"(The department) has reached out to food distributors and retailers throughout the county to ensure that these products are removed from vendors' shelves."
Consumers are advised to return the eggs to the store of purchase for a full refund.
Most people with the illness develop diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps between 12 and 72 hours after infection.
The illness typically lasts between four and seven days.
But babies, elderly individuals and those with weakened immune systems are more likely to develop severe illness.
Severe infections can be fatal if left untreated with antibiotics.
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