July 9/Silver Spring, Md./PR Newswire -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says that as many as 79,000 illnesses and 30 deaths due to consumption of eggs contaminated with the bacterium Salmonella Enteritidis may be avoided each year with new food safety requirements for large-scale egg producers.
The new food safety requirements became effective on July 9, 2010, through a rule for egg producers having 50,000 or more laying hens -- about 80% of production. Among other things, it requires them to adopt preventive measures and to use refrigeration during egg storage and transportation.