Breaking News Egg-stra | Egg Recall Expands to over Half a Billion

Washington, D.C. (Aug 20) – A nationwide salmonella outbreak linked to eggs has expanded to almost half a billion sickening over 1,000. Officials expect the number infected by consumption of the contaminated poultry products to continue.

Hillandale Farms of Iowa is recalling 170 million eggs potentially contaminated with salmonella. Company officials have not stated whether the outbreak was linked to Wright County Egg company outbreak that resulted in the recall of nearly 380 million eggs earlier this week.

FDA officials have identified the strain of salmonella bacteria as the salmonella enteritidis, which has poisoned at least 1,000 consumers to date.

The eggs being recalled were distributed between April and August of this year, and are branded as, Hillandale Farms, Sunny Farms, Sunny Meadow, Wholesome Farms and West Creek. So far grocery chains in fourteen states have been alerted to the possible outbreak and advising retailers to return the products as soon as possible.

Consumers may simply throw away the eggs, or return them to place of purchase for a refund. Regardless of the fact that a fully cooked egg will kill the bacteria, eggs should definitely be off the diet for the time being.

CDC officials expect the problem to continue to spread, and have only released numbers for those infected through the mid-July period. Contamination may have been caused by rodents, infected hens, or infected feed. Researchers are working to narrow down the source as; in this particular incident, farms have been physically located in separate states.

If you have or are experiencing any of the following symptoms, please contact your physicians or check-in at a medical center for diagnosis and treatment; diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever within eight to 72 hours after consuming food products containing eggs.

Posted by worldnews on August 20, 2010. Filed under Health and Living,Human Interest,National News,News,WorldNewsVine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.