CDC Announces Nationwide Hard Boiled Egg Recall Due To Listeria Outbreak

The recall impacts popular brands like Eggland’s Best, Kirkland, and Kroger

A nationwide recall issued by Almark Foods has been expanded to include many popular brands and retailers for all hard-boiled eggs manufactured at the firm’s Gainesville, Georgia facility, including all retail, pillow pack, pouch pack, frozen diced, and protein kit products.

The recall is due to potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. “Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, a Listeria monocytogenes infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women,” the FDA said. According to the CDC, people with cancer and pregnant women are ten times more likely than other people to be infected with Listeria.

Almark Foods sells to many popular brands like Eggland’s Best, Kirkland, Kroger, Nellie’s, and Fresh Thyme, among others and are sold in large retail chains including Walmart, Costco, Traders Joes, ShopRite, Kroger, and others. The original recall was issued on December 20, then expanded to include other products on December 23. The outbreak that has been linked to several reported illnesses and one reported death in Texas.

The CDC advises that people at higher risk for Listeria infection throw away any store-bought hard-boiled eggs or products containing hard-boiled eggs, such as egg salad and to wash and sanitize drawers or shelves where the products were stored. The CDC also recommends before ordering food where egg products are used at restaurants, confirm with them that they do not use hard-boiled eggs produced by Almark Foods.

The affected product can be identified by viewing the printed “Best If Used By” date coding on the packaging. “If the “Best If Used By” code starts with the prefix “G”, the product was manufactured at the company’s Gainesville, Georgia facility and is subject to this recall,” the FDA said. Products with the prefix “N” or “Y” are not subject to this recall. If you have any questions, customers can call Almark Foods’ Customer Helpline at (877) 546-0454 Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm EST.

This year has been a big one for food recalls. Earlier this year, Tyson recalled over 36,000 pounds of chicken nuggets and there have been several recalls of romaine lettuce due to reported cases of E. coli in 16 states linked to the tainted lettuce. Symptoms of E. coli infection can include nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea, fever, loss of appetite, or dehydration.

Lysteria is nothing to mess around with so if you experience any of the symptoms above, talk to your healthcare provider immediately.

The recalled eggs are used in popular products like Trader Joe’s Egg Salad (6-ounce cups) and Trader Joe’s Old Fashioned Potato Salad (20-ounce trays) which use Almark egg whites and have been shipped to stores in 30 states, according to Consumer Reports. Almark has temporarily suspended all production at its Gainesville plant.

For a full list of products and brands included in the recall, you can visit the FDA website here.