Shell egg farms in Alabama and New York inspected last year by the Food and Drug Administration were recently warned about the serious violations FDA discovered.
In the warning letters, FDA discloses more details about a previously reported outbreak and reports that the Salmonella Enteritidis or SE outbreak caused a cage-free egg producer to cease operations.
Alabama’s Gravel Ridge Farms in Cullman was the likely source of a multi-state SE outbreak that last year sickened 44 people in 11 states, FDA says in the recently released warning letter dated Feb. 12, 2019.
As consequence, Gravel Ridge recalled 660,000 shell eggs between May 22 and Aug. 29, 2018. It was one of two large shell egg recalls that occurred last year. The other involved a Salmonella Braenderup outbreak.
FDA’s Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation (CORE) Network and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated the outbreak. A match to the outbreak strain was turned up from an environmental swab in laying house 2 at Gravel Ridge Farms.
FoodWorld 