19 August 2010
An Iowa company at the center of a massive recall of eggs linked to salmonella contamination dramatically broadened the nationwide recall to 380 million eggs.
The nationwide salmonella outbreak, which federal officials said was the largest of its type related to eggs in years, has sickened more than 250 people in at least four states. In May 2010, CDC identified a nationwide increase in the number of Salmonella Enteritidis isolates with PFGE pattern JEGXX01.0004 .
Epidemiologic investigations conducted by public health officials in 10 states since April have identified 26 restaurants or events where more than one ill person with the outbreak strain has eaten. Data from these investigations suggest that shell eggs are a likely source of infections in many of these restaurants or events. Preliminary information indicates that Wright County Egg, in Galt, Iowa owned by DeCoster family, was an egg supplier in 15 of these 26 restaurants or events. A formal traceback conducted by state partners in California, Colorado, and Minnesota, in collaboration with FDA and CDC, found that shell eggs from five of these restaurants or events were from a single firm, Wright County Egg in Galt, Iowa.
According to state health officials, the salmonella-contaminated eggs have sickened at least 266 Californians, 28 people in Colorado and seven people in Minnesota. Clusters of suspicious cases have also been reported in Arizona, Illinois, Nevada, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin.