Over 1600 sickened.

Beginning in May 2010, the Centers for Disease Control noted a four-fold, nationwide, increase in the number of laboratory isolations of the same strain of Salmonella Enteritidis. Independent, epidemiologic investigations conducted by public health personnel in California, Colorado, and Minnesota revealed multiple outbreaks at restaurants or events. The data suggested that shell eggs were a likely source of these outbreaks. Related outbreaks were found in other states. There were at least 29 restaurants or event clusters where more than one person with the outbreak strain of Salmonella had eaten. The traceback of the eggs in the leading outbreaks found that many of these restaurants, or events, received shell eggs from Wright County Egg, Iowa, a part of the DeCoster family agribusiness. Wright County Egg recalled 288 million shell eggs on August 13 which had been distributed throughout the USA and Mexico. On August 18, the recall was expanded to include additional egg brands and eggs (380 million eggs). Wright County Eggs distributed potentially contaminated eggs to other egg suppliers which resulted in other egg recalls. On August 19, Country Eggs, Inc., initiated a recall of eggs. On August 20, Luberski, Inc., a Fullerton, California, egg distributor issued its own recall. On August 20, Hillandale Farms, of Iowa, issued its own recall of 170 million shell eggs stating that some outbreak cases were linked to the consumption of Hillandale Farms eggs. Hillandale Farms and Wright County Egg shared suppliers of chickens and feed. For example, Quality Egg supplied young chickens and feed to both companies. On August 21, Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., the nation’s largest egg seller and distributor, recalled 9.6 million eggs after the company was notified by Hillandale that it had received suspect eggs, between April 9 and August 19. On August 24, Moark, LLC, of Fontana, California, recalled eggs that its company had received from Hillandale Farms. On August 25, Trafficanda Egg Ranch and Cardenas Market Brand eggs were included in the Wright County Egg recall. On August 27, Sparboe Farms issued a recall on eggs it had received from Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms and had repackaged and distributed. On August 26, environmental sampling and testing of chicken feed and feed components performed on samples collected at Wright County Egg farms revealed the presence of the outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteriditis. The FDA tested feed components and the environment at the feed production plant and failed to find Salmonella contamination. These findings suggested that the feed became contaminated after it had arrived at Wright County and Hillandale Farms. The FDA’s inspection of Wright County Eggs found numerous, serious, sanitation problems. There had been a series of laboratory tests in 2006 and 2009 that showed the presence of Salmonella Enteritidis in barns at Jack DeCoster’s egg operation in Maine, Maine Contract Farming. On September 22, the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations heard testimony from the public about the outbreak and its impact.

Decoster and his son spent three months in jail and suffered over a $7,000,000 fine.