Recalled eggs produced at Hyde County farm

Published 9:50 pm Sunday, April 15, 2018

Buy eggs at Walmart or Food Lion lately? Better check if they’ve been recalled.

More than 200 million eggs produced at Rose Acre Farms in Hyde County may potentially be contaminated with salmonella, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Rose Acres, headquartered in Indiana, is voluntarily recalling 206,749,248 eggs from its farm in Pantego out of an “abundance of caution,” the FDA recall alert said.

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To date, 22 illnesses have been reported along the East Coast due to the contaminated eggs, the FDA said.

Rose Acre Farms recall timeline

The eggs were distributed under the brand names Food Lion, Walmart’s Great Value, Country Daybreak, Crystal Farms, Sunshine Farms, Nelms, Coburn Farms and Glenview. The eggs were also sold to some restaurants, including Waffle House.

The FDA linked the Hyde County farm to the outbreak of salmonella after discovering that all 22 people who fell ill ate eggs prior to their illnesses, and those eggs came from Rose Acres. FDA investigators inspected the farm and collected samples for testing, which revealed the salmonella strain was the same, according to the alert.

“Consumers who have any of these shell eggs in their homes should not eat them and should throw them away or return them to the place of purchase for credit or refund,” the FDA said.

Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy  people infected can experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

The eggs were sold in Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia through retail stores and restaurants via direct delivery.

The FDA’s investigation is ongoing.