Costco egg recall for salmonella receives FDA's most severe designation

Food and Drug Administration

The Food and Drug Administration has classified its recall of eggs sold under Costco's Kirkland brand as a Class I recall, a designation reserved for instances of the highest potential health risk — including death.

A Class I recall signals that "there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death," according to the FDA. 

The agency announced the voluntary recall on Nov. 27 and posted news of the Class I designation on Dec. 20; it has not provided updates about whether any possible illnesses or medical cases related to the recall. Neither the agency nor Costco responded to NPR's messages for comment on Friday.

The eggs were voluntarily recalled by Handsome Brook Farms, which is headquartered in New York. The recall covers 10,800 packages of 24-count eggs, sold under the Kirkland Signature brand name and described as organic and pasture-raised.

The products were sent to 25 Costco stores in five states: Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The recall applies to products with a UPC code of 9661910680 that also have the Julian code 327 and a use-by date of Jan 5, 2025.

"Eggs from a positive Salmonella environment were shipped into distribution to retail facilities," according to the FDA. Handsome Brook Farms said the eggs hadn't been intended for retail sales — but were mistakenly packaged and distributed.

"Additional supply chain controls and retraining are being put in place to prevent recurrence," the recall notice states.

The FDA also placed the Class I designation on a recall of cucumbers due to possible salmonella contamination that, as with the eggs, was also announced in late November.

It's not unusual for salmonella to trigger a Class 1 recall: The bacteria is "the biggest cause of hospitalization and death in our food system," Sarah Sorscher, director of regulatory affairs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, told NPR's 1A program in September.

Every year, salmonella causes "about 1.35 million illnesses, 26,500 hospitalizations, and 420 deaths" in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates.

Symptoms such as diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps can take time to manifest, appearing days or even weeks after the initial infection. Most people usually feel better after four to seven days, but in rare circumstances, salmonella can reach the bloodstream and affect other parts of the body, the CDC says.