More than 70 people in seven states have been sick due to a salmonella epidemic linked to eggs recalled by an egg distributor based in California, According to American centers for the control and prevention of diseases.
Friday, the August egg company recalled 1.7 million dozen brown certified organic eggs without brown cage, sold under several brand names, which have the “potential to be contaminated”, according to a reminder of the US Food and Drug Administration.
Of the 79 people with defects, 21 people were hospitalized and no death was reported, said the CDC.
The eggs were sold at restaurants and retailers in Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Washington and Wyoming, according to the CDC. They were distributed in retail stores, including Walmart, Save Mart, Foodmaxx, Lucky, Smart & Final, Safeway, Raleys, Food 4 Less and Ralphs.
Salmonella can “cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, fragiles or the elderly, and others with weakened immune systems”, according to the FDA. Salmonella can also cause fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain in healthy people who are infected.
“August Egg Company does not sell fresh shell eggs at that time. Our company has voluntarily diverted eggs to a revolutionary plant for more than 30 days, which has paste eggs and kills all pathogens of potential food origin,” said the company in a statement provided to the FDA. “It is important to know that when our transformation factory identified this concern, we immediately started to divert all the eggs from the plant from an egg editorial installation, which paste eggs and kills all the pathogens.”
The company also said that its internal food security team “carried out its own strict examination” to identify future preventive measures. “We are committed to fully tackling this question and implementing all the corrective measures necessary to ensure that this will not happen again,” said the company.
The CDC recommends anyone who has the eggs recalled in their house or business throws them or returns them to the store where they were purchased.