WASHINGTON (AFP) – One of the largest-ever US recalls grew to more than half a billion chicken eggs Saturday when a second producer pulled eggs potentially contaminated with salmonella bacteria, an industry official said.
There are no known salmonella deaths due to the eggs, but the US Food and Drug Administration is investigating the origins of a salmonella outbreak that has jumped to 1,953 cases between May and July -- more than twice the normal number of cases for the period.
"Hillandale Farms has recalled 170 million eggs" that had been distributed across 14 US states, Krista Eberle, director of food safety programs at the industry's Egg Safety Center, told AFP.
"This is certainly one of the largest recalls the industry has seen," Eberle added.
Some 380 million eggs were voluntarily recalled one week earlier by Wright County Egg, in Galt, Iowa, officials said.
The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were seeking to confirm just how many people across at least 14 states, from California to Arkansas, have actually been sickened by the eggs.
FDA spokeswoman Pat El-Hinnawy said there were on-site investigators at both Hillandale Farms and Wright County Egg. "The recalls are related," El-Hinnawy said. ..............(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/usfoodrecall
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