Check your fridge: Nearly 19 million eggs are under the FDA’s most serious recall classification

Egg prices have finally stopped punishing American shoppers. A dozen averaged $2.19 in July, down nearly 26% from a year earlier as flocks recovered from avian flu. Now nearly 19 million eggs are carrying a different kind of problem—and the sell-by dates on some of them run through today.

The problem began in July, when Midwest Poultry Services voluntarily recalled white shell and brown cage-free eggs over potential salmonella enteritidis contamination.

The eggs were produced at farms in Texas between June 6 and July 3 and carry sell-by or best-by dates between July 20 and Aug. 17. They were sold under the Kroger, Simple Truth, Brookshire’s, Country Morning and Cal-Maine Sunups brands.

Then on Aug. 12, the Food and Drug Administration classified the recall under its highest-risk category after the eggs were linked to a salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 98 people and hospitalized 26.

The FDA said the Class I designation followed its assessment of the risk to the public and “should not........

© Fortune