The outbreak has been tied to multiple brown organic and brown cage-free egg brands distributed to grocery stores in seven states, officials said.
Dozens of people across seven states, most of them in the West, have become ill in a salmonella outbreak linked to a recall of 1.7 million eggs, federal safety regulators said.
The August Egg Company, of Hilmar, Calif., issued the recall of brown organic and brown cage-free eggs tied to multiple brands that were distributed to grocery stores from Feb. 3 to May 15 this year because of their potential to be contaminated with salmonella, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday.
At least 79 people have gotten ill from the outbreak linked to the eggs, with 21 people hospitalized, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a separate statement on Friday.
Most of the those sickened (63) live in California, which is followed by Nevada and Washington State, with four illnesses each. Illnesses have also been reported in Arizona, Kentucky, Nebraska and New Jersey. No deaths have been reported.
The eggs, with sell-by dates between March 4 and June 4, 2025, were distributed at retail locations, including Save Mart, FoodMaxx, Raley’s, Ralphs and Safeway.
The eggs were also distributed from Feb. 3 to May 6, 2025, with sell-by dates from March 4 to June 19, 2025, to Walmart stores in Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Washington and Wyoming, the F.D.A. said.
A list of brands and plant number codes associated with the outbreak are on the F.D.A. and C.D.C. websites.
“Do not eat any recalled eggs,” the C.D.C. said. The agency said that consumers who had the eggs should throw them away or return them to the store where they were purchased.
The agency advised people to wash items and surfaces that may have touched the recalled eggs with hot soapy water or in a dishwasher.
The C.D.C. said that samples taken by the F.D.A. during an inspection at a processing facility at the August Egg Company had tested positive for a strain of salmonella that was closely related to the strain found in the people who became ill.
In a statement to the F.D.A., the August Egg Company said that it believed it was “appropriate out of an abundance of caution to conduct this voluntary recall, as consumers may still have these eggs in their homes.”
The company noted that when its “processing plant identified this concern, we immediately began diverting all eggs from the plant to an egg-breaking facility, which pasteurizes the eggs and kills any pathogens.”
The company added that it was conducting “its own stringent review” to prevent future recurrences.
Salmonella sickens an estimated 1.35 million people in the United States each year.
Salmonella symptoms include fever, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Most people recover without treatment after four to seven days.
Some, such as children younger than 5 years, people 65 years and older, and people with weakened immune systems, may experience more severe illnesses that require medical treatment or hospitalization, the C.D.C. said.