Dive Brief:
- Good Earth Egg Company announced a recall Monday of all shell eggs, according to according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
- FDA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Missouri officials are investigating a salmonella outbreak linked to the company’s shell eggs.
- The CDC has tied the outbreak to eight illnesses in three states.
Dive Insight:
The CDC has linked the salmonella outbreak strain specifically to the company’s Bonne Terre, MO, cage-free egg facility. Cage-free eggs are a popular trend among food manufacturers, retailers and food service companies today. But this type of production comes with its own safety risks and costs that manufacturers should consider before jumping onto the trend.
However, before speculation leads to blaming cage-free egg facilities, the repeated shell egg recalls could also be a sign of internal issues at this one company. CDC officials matched the current salmonella strain with an outbreak strain found at the same company in 2015, which had led to at least 52 sick consumers in six states.
The repeated issues at Good Earth Egg prompted the FDA to send the company a warning letter last February. Problems included the fact that Good Earth Egg had no record or documentation of whether the company cleaned and disinfected its laying houses between flocks in addition to concerns about inadequate manure removal. As of this latest recall, Good Earth had yet to resolve those issues, Food Safety News reported.