It’s one of the largest US egg recalls thus far this year as a result of mass disease crises. This time, it’s a salmonella scare, not another flare up of the avian flu. But it’s still out there, too…
Unique characteristics
A number of unique characteristics shared by this mega-recall of fresh, cage-free, organic eggs. The most prominent being that they’re all brown, organic eggs. And it’s a huge recall: 1.7 million DOZEN – or 20.4 million individual eggs…
So broad was the distribution range of the relatively-rare brown, organic cackle fruit – to destination stores in California, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, New Mexico, Nebraska, Indiana and Illinois – that the ’roundup’ is only just wrapping up.
Affected eggs, from August Egg Company of Hilmar, CA, sent to Walmart locations in California and Nevada, have ‘Sell By’ dates from March 4, 2025, to June 4, 2025. Other batches, distributed to Save Mart, FoodMaxx, Lucky, Smart & Final, Safeway, Raleys, Food 4 Less and Ralphs, have ‘Sell By’ dates from March 4, 2025, to June 19, 2025. All bear plant code numbers of either P-6562 or CA5330.
Serious health affects
“Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems,” the US Food and Drug Administration IDFA) warns. “Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.”
The original recall notice was issued June 6, 2025.
What to do…
If you do have potentially affected eggs in your ridge, don’t eat them. Throw them away or return them to the store where you bought them.
Consumers, restaurants, and retailers who purchased or received the recalled eggs, including wholesale eggs, should carefully clean and sanitize any surfaces or containers that they touched to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.
My take
What a blow to August Eggs, which suffered a similar Salmonella scare – and massive voluntary recall – back in January. It’s also a hardship for fans of organic and/or brown eggs in the affected markets. August is one North America’s single largest producers of both brown and organic eggs.
And 20.4 million eggs culled from the overall US marketplace is an especially serous loss, as avian flu and its attendant shortages continue. US egg prices continue high, though prices and shortages of everyday white, non-organic eggs have moderated a little since they peaked, a little over a month ago…
~ Maggie J.