The hard boiled truth about egg safety and the salmonella recall

Egg safety news from Eggland’s Best eggs

My personal favorite brand of eggs is Eggland’s Best (EB). Not only are they delicious and more nutritious than store brands, but (for me) they’re a locally produced food product.

Eggland’s Best eggs are not part of the egg salmonella recall. Even so, they want consumers to know that EB has the most comprehensive food safety quality assurance program and will never compromise when it comes to consumer safety.

The Eggland’s Best food safety quality assurance program was introduced in 1995 and adheres to and goes beyond the FDA Egg Safety Rule in many ways:

• EB egg producers must vaccinate all hens three times to create resistance to salmonella infections.
• Eggland’s Best hens are fed an all-natural, all-vegetarian diet that does not contain animal fat or other animal by-products, a potential cause for salmonella.
• They require extensive cleaning and disinfecting of poultry houses and require strict pest control inspections.
• They require proper egg washing and plant sanitation procedures.
• They implement a strict bio-security program– ensuring that all visitors and employees on farm premises follow proper disease-preventive practices.
• They require proper refrigeration of eggs at or below 45 degrees.
• All operations are certified under the Safe Quality Food (SQF) Program and all plants producing EB eggs are inspected by USDA. EB conducts over 45,000 tests annually to ensure that our product meets the highest standards.
• All farms and processing plants are inspected by a certified veterinarian on an ongoing basis.
• USDA allows regular generic eggs to be stored up to 21 days before packing into cartons, whereas Eggland’s Best sets a maximum of 7 days. Most EB eggs leave our farms within 24-48 hours after production, or as soon as they have completely cooled to 45 degrees or below. Fresher eggs are more resistant to bacterial growth.

You can stay in touch with Eggland’s Best on their website, on the EB Facebook page and on Twitter.

Anne-Marie Nichols is the Managing Editor of Mom Central Food. She also blogs at This Mama Cooks! On a Diet, a healthy lifestyle and weight loss blog featuring healthy recipes for the whole family.

Anne-Marie Nichols