The recent recall of millions of eggs, believed to have been the cause of an outbreak of salmonella infection cases, has left people thinking twice before devouring their scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast.

Despite the egg speculation, the ISU community has nothing to worry about. ISU Dining personnel have taken the necessary precautions to prevent the use of contaminated eggs in meals and baked goods prepared for campus dining centers and cafes.

Nancy Levandowski, director of campus dining services, said dining services received notification Aug. 14 that six of their egg cartons were on the recall list. Immediate action was taken to remove those cartons of eggs from the shelves before any of the potentially infected eggs were used.

Those eggs came from the Los Fredo produce company, one of two companies ISU Dining purchases eggs from. The other is Oskaloosa Food Products Corp., a company that provides frozen eggs to the dining centers.

Levandowski said Oskaloosa Foods sent out a letter Monday, Aug. 23 stating they would not use any shell eggs from either Wright County Egg or Hillandale Farms – companies whose eggs were recalled.

“We spend a good amount of time making sure we have safe products, and our vendors are really good at working with us,” Levandowski said.

In the past when food recalls have been issued, Levandowski said ISU Dining has posted signs informing customers that any potentially contaminated products have been pulled from shelves.

“Sometimes we overdo it, but it’s important to take care of our customers,” Levandowski said.

Salmonella Infection

Salmonella is a bacterial disease that harbors in the intestinal tract, according to the Mayo Clinic’s website. The main form is known as gastroenteritis. It is often caused by eating raw or undercooked meat, poultry or eggs.

Darrell Trampel, extension poultry veterinarian and poultry diagnostician in the veterinary medicine laboratory, said there are more than 2,400 strains of salmonella. The strain that infects chickens and their eggs is carried by mice.

The infection is spread from mice to chickens through the mice’s feces. Trampel said chickens may consume the feces if it is present in the chicken’s feed.

From there, the infection harbors in the chicken and can be spread from chicken to chicken through the consumption of an infected chicken’s feces.

Salmonella-positive chickens can also shed the infection into their eggs. The infection can be found both in the egg yolk and on the egg shell.

Humans who do not take safety precautions when handling or cooking eggs risk the chance of contracting the salmonella infection. Trampel said even if there is only a small amount of the bacteria present on the egg shell or in the egg yolk, it can still cause problems.

Trampel suggests keeping eggs refrigerated, washing hands after handling eggs and thoroughly cooking both egg yolks and egg whites in order to ward off the salmonella infection.

“It’s very important that eggs be refrigerated,” Trampel said. “As long as they are kept cool, even if they have a few salmonella bacteria, the bacteria won’t divide and multiply.”

However, Trampel urges consumers not to consume the eggs that were on the recall list.

“Just destroy them, or return them to the store,” Trampel said.

Side bar:

Symptoms of gastroenteritis salmonella:

– Nausea

– Vomiting

– Abdominal pain

– Diarrhea

– Fever

– Chills

– Headache

– Muscle pains

– Blood in the stool

Symptoms typically develop within 12 to 72 hours, and last four to seven days.

*taken from the Mayo Clinic website