Midwest Poultry Services, L.P. is pulling nearly 1.6 million dozen eggs from store shelves across the South after determining the products could carry Salmonella Enteritidis, according to a recall notice posted by the Food and Drug Administration.
The voluntary recall, announced July 22, covers 1,589,577 dozen eggs — both white shell and brown cage-free varieties — raised on two of the company's farms in Texas. The affected eggs were laid between June 6 and July 3 and carry sell-by or best-by dates ranging from July 20 to Aug. 17.
Those eggs reached wholesale and grocery buyers in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana before turning up on shelves at Kroger locations in Texas and Louisiana, Brookshire Grocery stores across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Mississippi, and a handful of smaller retailers.
Shoppers will find the recalled cartons under several different labels, among them Kroger, Simple Truth, Country Morning, Sunups and Brookshire's, in sizes ranging from 6-count cartons to 60-count flats, plus bulk foodservice packs. The company says only cartons stamped with the code P-1950 or 0840962, alongside a Julian date between 157-184, printed in date-coding ink on the side of the carton, are part of the recall.
Midwest Poultry Services said it caught the problem through its own environmental monitoring and a subsequent root cause investigation at the two Texas farms, and it has since stopped shipping fresh eggs from that production. As of the announcement, the company said it had not received any reports of illness tied to the eggs, a detail Reuters also confirmed in its coverage of the recall.
Salmonella Enteritidis can bring on fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal cramping in otherwise healthy people. Infections are typically more serious for young children, older adults and anyone with a weakened immune system, and in rare instances the bacteria can spread into the bloodstream, leading to complications such as arterial infections, endocarditis or arthritis.
Anyone holding onto the recalled eggs is urged to skip eating them and instead return the cartons to the store where they were purchased for a full refund. Midwest Poultry Services is fielding consumer questions at 574-405-9531 or recallassistance@mpseggs.com, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern time
