For those who are visual learners, this graphic breaks down how to read an egg carton’s codes. Useful for telling if your eggs were part of the 228 million recalled for salmonella, for instance.
Here’s the list of brands, plant numbers and Julian dates to watch out for.
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From what I understand, they are fine if you cook them and practice good kitchen sanitation (clean counters, wash hands.) The people who got sick ate merangue and ceaser dressing with raw eggs, etc.?
“Chickens can pass the bacteria to eggs because the eggs leave hens through the same passageway as feces, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.”
I really have no clue about chicken anatomy, but this just doesn’t seem right.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/19/eggs.recall.salmonella/?hpt=T1
Ah, the marvelous cloaca
They have one multi-purpose opening. Lizards and birds both.
I’ve got a dozen Lucerne eggs in my frige at home; I’ll check their info against the list when I get home. Thanks for the info.
As an aside, this is the exact reason why you are NOT supposed to mix and match eggs in the supermarket if you find a carton with a bad one. There could be people with egg cartons that they think are safe, only there’s a contaminated one stuck in there by someone switching out an egg for one in the carton right next to it. If you find a carton with a bad egg in the store, find a brand new carton– let the bad one be the supermarket’s problem to deal with.
Just an update, Ben – the recall is now up to 380 Million eggs and the plant codes have been updated to plant numbers 1026, 1413 and 1946. Additionally, another egg producer, NuCal Foods, has started a voluntary recall of THEIR eggs, which covers eggs branded as Albertsons, Farm Fresh, James Farms, Glenview, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma, Lund, Kemps and Pacific Coast and are marked with a three-digit code ranging from 136 to 229 and plant numbers 1720 and 1942.
http://agriculture.einnews.com/pr-news/148838-nucal-foods-conducts-recall-of-shell-eggs-supplied-from-wright-county-egg-because-of-possible-health-risk
It’s also now known that Wright County Eggs is a supplier to many restaurants, and people have fallen ill from up to 26 restaurants in 10 states, currently.
Frankly, I’m just giving up eggs until this gets sorted out.
the carton doesn’t mean anything until they start stamping the eggs with the date and time.
I’ve been waiting for the “I grow my own eggs, at home” guy.
And in this case, he actually might!
They do that in France. I miss it.
I hope they catch the chicken laying these eggs. I bet it is a Al Quaida terrorist chicken.
Another Update:
Another Iowa egg producer, Hillandale Farms of Iowa, is voluntarily recalling shell eggs distributed to stores and companies that service, or are located in, 14 states, the Egg Safety Center website said Friday.
The eggs were distributed under the Hillandale Farms, Sunny Farms, and Sunny Meadow brand names in six-egg cartons, dozen-egg cartons, 18-egg cartons, 30-egg packages, and five-dozen-egg cases, the website said.
Loose eggs, which could be repackaged by customers, were packaged under the Wholesome Farms and West Creek brands in 15- and 30-dozen tray packs, according to the Egg Safety Center.
The eggs affected by this recall either have plant number P1860 with date codes ranging from 099 to 230, or plant number P1663 and date codes ranging from 137 to 230, the website said.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/20/eggs.recall.salmonella/index.html?hpt=T2
That’s actually an ordinal date, not a Julian date.
I’m not getting this at all. My eggs say
SELL BY SEP 03
193 F 13 0161
FYI: recall does not affect Canadian eggs. Safeway sells the Lucerne brand here.