Two new egg brands added to recall list
CNN Wire Staff
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/HEALTH/08/26/eggs.salmonella/smlvid.eggs.new.ts.jpg caption="Some eggs from Cardenas Market and Trafficanda Egg Ranch have been recalled" width=300 height=169]
Egg eaters have two new brand names to search for in their refrigerators Thursday because of the nationwide salmonella scare sparked by egg recalls.
Wright County Egg, the company responsible for 380 million of the 550 million recalled eggs, said in a press release Wednesday night that it had confirmed cases of Salmonella enteritidis illnesses related to shell eggs bearing the Cardenas Market brand and Cardenas Market was beginning a voluntary recall.
The statement said affected eggs were distributed to Cardenas Market stores in California and Nevada, packaged in 60-egg cases over-wrapped with plastic. Although the Cardenas Market label wasn't named in Wright County's original August 13 recall announcement, Cardenas was immediately notified at the time of the original recall, and product in distribution or in stores has been quarantined, returned or destroyed, Wright County said.
Egg crisis may help food safety bill in Senate
Ted Barrett
CNN Congressional Producer
Supporters of a long stalled bill to bolster the safety of the nation's food supply are hoping the widening egg salmonella crisis will give them momentum to pass their bill in the Senate as early as next month.
The bipartisan bill would give new powers and resources to the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on risky food suppliers in the United States and abroad. For instance, in the current situation, the FDA could quickly order direct recalls of suspected eggs instead of relying on voluntary recalls by the manufacturers.
Congress begins investigating salmonella outbreak, egg recalls
CNN Wire Staff
The House Energy and Commerce Committee requested documents and information Monday from Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms of Iowa related to the recent salmonella outbreak and egg recalls, according to a news release from the office of the committee's chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California.
Waxman and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Michigan, sent letters to the two Iowa-based egg producers asking for details on the contamination of their egg products, including when government officials and customers of the affected egg products were first notified of the contamination.
The committee also asked for the inspection records for the companies' facilities, the companies' internal protocols and standards for monitoring and analyzing their products, and documents related to allegations of health, safety, environmental, or animal cruelty violations for the companies or any related companies, the news release said.
Responses from each egg company are expected by Tuesday, September 7, according to the letters.
More egg recalls could be ahead, FDA chief says
CNN Wire Staff
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/HEALTH/08/23/eggs.salmonella/c1main.eggs.cnn.jpg caption="More recalls may follow, FDA commissioner says" width=300 height=169]
The recall of more than half a billion eggs over the past two weeks is the "largest such egg recall in recent history" and the Food and Drug Administration "may need to continue with smaller sub-recalls," FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told CNN's "American Morning" on Monday.
"We have a very complicated network of food distribution in this country," Hamburg said. "You start with a couple of farms in Iowa and you can get nationwide exposure."
Hillandale Farms of Iowa announced Friday it was recalling more than 170 million eggs. Another 380 million have been recalled by another Iowa producer, Wright County Egg, after the FDA linked the eggs to an outbreak of salmonella that has sickened hundreds of people nationwide.
The FDA was talking with the two egg producers to gain access to their premises to look around and examine their records. "We're continuing to investigate to make sure that we fully understand the source of the contamination," Hamburg said.
On Twitter
