Careful, there are some bad eggs out there.
Hong Kong authorities have issued a recall for thousands of cartons of eggs imported from the United States after it emerged they may be contaminated with salmonella.
The order, announced by the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) yesterday evening, concerns a batch of eggs produced by Rose Acre Farms from a plant in Hyde County, North Carolina.
It came after the US Food and Drug Administration recalled about 200 million eggs distributed by the supplier to states across America, where some than 22 cases of illness have been reported, wrote the New York Times.
The CFS has suspended imports from the supplier, according to its statement.
It has contacted major Hong Kong importers and retailers and, based on preliminary investigations, found five firms had imported about 6,000 potentially contaminated eggs.
With each carton usually containing 360 eggs, this would add up to about 2.16 million eggs which, fun fact, is about 15 times the amount used in the world’s biggest omelette.
The importers were named as General Hero Ltd, Shun Hing Hoo, Tai Cheong Eggs Company Ltd, Luen Tai Hong and Maxim’s Caterers Ltd.
All but one of the suppliers — Maxim’s Caterers — have distributed the eggs. Maxim’s, said the CFS, still had the batch stored in a warehouse and would dispose of the bad eggs.
The other four have initiated recalls. Concerned customers can contact each company (numbers at the bottom of the story).
A common cause of food poisoning, particularly in raw or undercooked produce, salmonella bacteria, can cause fever, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhoea.
Though healthy people usually recover without treatment after a few days, young children, the elderly and people with weak immune systems can have severe reactions with cases sometimes resulting in death.
Given the bacteria generally cannot survive high temperatures, the CFS urged people concerned they might have contaminated eggs to cook them thoroughly #Hardboiledhealthiness.
- General Hero Ltd: 2381 9138
- Shun Hing Hoo: 2543 4655
- Tai Cheong Eggs Company Ltd: 2546 1834
- Luen Tai Hong: 2857 9389
Reader Interactions