Saturday, 28 Sep 2024

Georgia Company Recalls Eggs Linked to Deadly Listeria Outbreak

A Georgia food company said Friday that it was recalling hard-boiled eggs that were sold in bulk and linked to a listeria outbreak that led to sicknesses in five states, including one death and four hospitalizations.

Gene Grabowski, a spokesman for Almark Foods, said the voluntary recall affected about 200,000 pounds of hard-boiled and peeled eggs that were sold in white plastic pails to restaurants and grocery stores for use in egg salad and other foods.

The eggs were not sold directly to consumers, he said.

Mr. Grabowski said the company had also stopped production of the eggs at its facility in Gainesville, Ga., while it searched for the root cause of the listeria. The company plans to sterilize the plant and reopen after the Food and Drug Administration is satisfied that the contamination has been eliminated, he said.

The process could take weeks, Mr. Grabowski said. Almark Foods has another plant in North Carolina, which remains in operation.

This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that food processors, restaurants and retailers should not use bulk hard-boiled eggs produced at the Georgia plant. It also recommended that those who received the eggs use extra vigilance in cleaning and sanitizing surfaces that might have come in contact with the eggs or pails.

The hard-boiled and peeled eggs were sold in pails under various names, including Rainbow Select Hard-cooked Eggs, Rainbow Select Hard-cooked Eggs in Vinegar, Nic’s Salad Hard-boiled Eggs, Almark Hard-cooked Eggs and Sutherland Select Hard-cooked Eggs, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

F.D.A. officials discovered listeria at Almark’s facility in Gainesville during a routine inspection in February. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that the strain was the same one that caused three infections in 2017.

By this month, the strain had been found in at least five states — Florida, Maine, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas — and in four more people, the C.D.C. said in a safety alert issued on Wednesday. The one death was reported in Texas, the C.D.C. said.

Listeria can cause fever and diarrhea. People who are infected typically report symptoms one to four weeks after eating contaminated food, according to the C.D.C.

About 1,600 people get listeriosis each year, and about 260 die from it, according to the agency. Pregnant women, newborns, adults older than 65 and people with weakened immune systems are most susceptible to infection.

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