CDC advises grocers to check their eggs

Federal health officials have traced a nine-state rash of salmonella contaminations to shell eggs sold to restaurants and supermarkets by the Midwestern supplier Milo’s Poultry Farms.

The eggs are sold under that name and the brand label Tony’s Fresh Market. 

Sixty-five people have been sickened by the bacterium to date, with 24 needing hospitalization, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. No deaths have been reported.

The salmonella involved may be more dangerous than normal because the strain has shown resistance to nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin, two antibiotics commonly used to kill the bacteria. Physicians are being advised to try other forms of treatment.

The eggs are known to have reached wholesale customers, including restaurants and foodservice distributors, in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. Consumers were also stricken in California, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Utah and Virginia. Roughly two-thirds of the infections, or 41 cases, were reported in Milo’s home state of Wisconsin.

Milo’s announced a recall of its products on Saturday. The advisory was widespread, with the company advising consumers and businesses to avoid any of the company’s eggs, regardless of expiration date or the packaging in which they were shipped.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration, or FDA, found traces of salmonella in Milo’s egg-laying houses, indicating the pathogen has penetrated the company’s flock, as well as its packing facilities.

Neither the FDA nor the CDC indicated when contaminated eggs started hitting the market, but stressed that all eggs from Milo’s should be discarded or sent back up the supply chain. 

Humans usually recover from salmonella poisoning within a week, after suffering such symptoms as diarrhea, stomach cramps and fever. But infections have been known to kill the elderly or persons with compromised immune systems.

The outbreak is the latest in what’s been a series of recent challenges for federal food-safety agencies. 

In the largest listeria outbreak in 13 years, nine people have died from a listeria infection of deli meats sold under the Boar’s Head brand name. The FDA and CDC have traced the suspect meats to retail establishments but not restaurants. In all, the cold cuts have sickened 57 consumers, all of whom required hospitalization.

In June, authorities reported an outbreak of salmonella contaminations that was eventually traced to whole cucumbers. In total, 551 individuals in 34 states and the District of Columbia were sickened. The source of the bacteria was not definitively identified, but officials said they found traces of the pathogen in canal water that at least two cucumber farms used for irrigation. 

The government continues to monitor the spread of avian flu to both chickens and humans. 

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