Before you dig into that omelet, maybe you should check the provenance of those eggs — an egg producer in Iowa has issued a recall on several brands of eggs that, according to ABC7, have sickened 266 Californians, 14 percent of whom were infected by eggs bought in the Bay Area.
The recall of the 228 million eggs is linked to salmonella cases believed to have been caused by consuming the tainted ovum. Salmonella, for those of you afraid you might have it (or those of you hoping to concoct an especially convincing sick-day call), typically presents with barfing, diarrhea, fever, and cramping between 8 and 72 hours after you eat something contaminated.
Health officials say that “because of the lab testing, we know it’s the same strain which is the strain that is in this outbreak,” and that in Santa Clara County alone, 38 people have tested positive for salmonella, with three falling so ill they required hospitalization.
If you have bad eggs, you can bring them back to the store for a refund. Here’s how to figure out if yours are being recalled — first, check to see if they’re any of the following brand names:
Lucerne
Albertson
Mountain Dairy
Ralph’s
Boomsma’s
Sunshine
Hillandale
Trafficanda
Farm Fresh
Shoreland
Lund
Dutch Farms
Kemps
Then look at the side of the carton. Says Consumerist: “The four-digit number following the “P” on the bottom line is the plant code. The affected eggs are from plant numbers are 1025, 1413 and 1946. Following the plant code is a 3-digit date code. The date codes for the recalled eggs range from 136 to 225. For example, the image at the top has the code P 1946 223, meaning those eggs have been recalled.”
