Following CDC and state investigations, certain restaurants in California, Minnesota, and
Colorado registered cases of salmonella food poisoning amongst its guests. The reasons for the
food poisoning were the rotten eggs supplied from the Wright County Egg located in Galt, Iowa.

Wright County Egg has shipped these batches of shell eggs since May. These eggs have reached
food wholesalers, distribution centers, as well as companies involved in the food service industry
located in eight different states. From these nodal centers, these eggs have traveled across the
nation.

These diseased eggs are sold under the following brand names such as Albertson, Lucrene,
Lund,Mountain Dairy, Boomsma’s, Ralph’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Shoreland, Dutch Farms,
Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, and Kemps. The eggs that are called back are eggs in the18-egg, dozen
and six egg cartons. The recalled eggs carry the following serial numbers:

The cartons will carry a stamp such as – P-1946 223

Plant numbers: 1026, 1413 and 1946

•The plant number is Prefixed by P

•Dates in the Julian format ranging from 136-225 will follow the plant number

•Consumers who have bought egg cartons bearing any of these series should return them to the
store from where they bought it for a complete refund.

Further investigations in Tennessee, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Nevada, Maryland,
Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Texas are being carried out to gauge the extent of the spread of
this disease.

Simultaneously, the Food and Drug Administration of the FDA is investigating the egg firm
at Iowa to locate the cause of the contamination. The company has announced dispatching the
entire lot of the eggs to the breaker so that pasteurization can take place and all the salmonella
bacteria is killed.

The contaminated eggs being recalled carry the salmonella strain called the Salmonella
Enteritidis, which is a very common strain in the US. The incidence of salmonella food
poisoning is generally around 50 cases in a week. But in May they found that cases of salmonella
food poisoning quadruple. With each passing week between late June and early July the CDC
registered more than 200 Salmonella food poisoning across the population.

However, the DNA fingerprint remained the same despite the geographic distances. This
triggered the possibility of a single source of samollena enteritidis generation. Back tracking on
each of registered cases pointed to the restaurants. From the restaurants a through investigation
across sectors lead to the contaminated eggs and finally the source from where the eggs came.

How to identify you have been infected by samollena enteritidis?

Within a 12 to about 72 hours after eating food in which the infected egg has been used, be it
food items or any kind of drink, one could suffer from any of the following symptoms:

• Cramps in the abdomen
• Fever without any symptoms
• Diarrhea

These conditions could persist for four days to about a week.

What is the treatment for salmonella food poisoning?

Antibiotics will be required only if the condition of the afflicted person is very severe due to
other medial complications.

Who are likely to be poisoned by contaminated eggs?

The aged and people with weak immunity will be the likely targets. People known to contact
diarrhea at the simplest of triggers could experience severe diarrhea and should therefore take a
lot of precautions. Infants too which have low immune tolerance should also be well protected.
Another likely target group are patients who are undergoing suppressive therapy such as
chemotherapy to treat against cancer.

Summarizing on all the aspects of salmonella infections, it is highly recommended that avoiding
poisoned eggs is the best recourse. Though this is going to be very difficult since one cannot tab
all the food preparations which use egg, one can follow a thumb rule to avoid contaminated eggs.

The CDC recommends the following methods to avoid eating eggs that could carry the infected
salmonella strain.

1 . Check the label for the serial number of the recalled eggs. It may or may not
be displayed at the store. There is a possibility that some of the stores may
yet continue to store some of the eggs despite the recall. This could be due

to a genuine logistic problem or could be an oversight by the stores. Ideally
consumers who have such cartons should either break the shells and dispose or
return the eggs for a full refund.

2 . If any person perceives that the symptoms he may be showing could be because
of the contaminated eggs, then immediate consultation with the health care
service providers is very essential.

3 . The ideal temperature to refrigerate the eggs is around 45 degrees F , regardless of
this incidence of contamination.

4 . It is wiser to discard dirty or cracked eggs instead of being thrifty in using them
despite the damage.
5 . Wash the hands, cooking vessels and surfaces on which the food is prepared with
soap and water if they have been exposed to raw eggs.

6 . It is ideal that the eggs are cooked until both the white and the yellow are firm and
eaten immediately.

7 . Care should be taken that the eggs are not at room temperature for more than two
hours. Try consuming them as fresh as possible.

8 . If there are leftovers of food made from eggs, then they should be refrigerated
immediately.

9 . Eating raw eggs, under the circumstances should be avoided.

1 0 .Avoid eating food, at restaurants and other eating places, where egg is used in the
uncooked, unpasteurized form. In fact it is recommended that these restaurants
use pasteurized eggs for their various preparations such as salad dressings etc
instead of raw eggs.

1 1 .The target group of salmonella infections- the aged, infants, chemotherapy
patients as well as such patients who have low tolerance to diarrhea should avoid
eating raw eggs.

With a little precaution and care to eat only cooked or pasteurized eggs one could well avoid
salmonella infections.