The US Food and Drug Administration said on Aug. 20 that the salmonella outbreak should not have happened with more than half a billion eggs recalled if the new safety rules and inspection requirements were put into effect before July.
The salmonella outbreak has jumped to about 2,000 cases of illnesses between May and July. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention expect the cases will continue to rise.
The new rules which the USFDA first proposed some 5 years ago only took effect last July 9. Some of the rules states that egg farms routinely test eggs and facilities for salmonella bacteria which cause illnesses such as typhoid fever and the food borne illness salmonellosis. The rules also required egg farms to ensure that chicks are free from salmonella infection and protect feeds and water from contamination. It also required eggs to be refrigerated on farms.
Sherri McGarry of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition said the FDA had not investigated the operation in Wright County, the first Iowa farm to recall 380 million eggs, previously because it had no authority to inspect the farms until the safety rules took effect.
Salmonella enteritidis, the bacteria strain suspected for the outbreak can invade an egg in several ways. One way is by the contamination of egg shells with fecal matter. Salmonella are present in the intestines and feces of infected humans and animals, including chickens, and can be transferred to the eggs when chickens sit on them.
To protect against salmonella infection health officials recommend that food be heated for at least ten minutes at 75 degrees centigrade (167 degrees Fahrenheit so that the center of the food reaches this temperature.
This whole incident of outbreak and egg recalls made me to think that eggs are a primary source of salmonella infections for humans.
