The criminal division of the Food and Drug Administration and the Justice Department have joined the probe of the Iowa farm at the heart of the recent egg recall linked to an outbreak of salmonella, according to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.

"There is a formal investigation going on that extends beyond the FDA inspections that are focused on farm practice," Dr. Hamburg told reporters Wednesday. "It is the case that an investigation is under way. We are pursuing it with our partners in law enforcement."

Dr. Hamburg declined to discuss details or to say whether Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have visited facilities of Wright County Egg, a major egg producer that recalled 380 million eggs in mid-August.

FDA spokeswoman Pat El-Hinnawy said Wednesday that federal agents visited both Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, the second producer involved in the recall, on Tuesday. She referred further questions to the U.S. attorney in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Wright spokeswoman Hinda Mitchell said FDA enforcement agents were at Wright on Tuesday. "Wright County Egg is cooperating fully," she said. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

Minnesota is one of 10 states included in the latest egg recall, this time from Sparboe Farms, a Litchfield-based egg producer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.
In a news release issued Friday, Sparboe said it packaged eggs produced by two Iowa egg companies at the center of a salmonella outbreak, Wright County Eggs and Hillandale Farms. While Sparboe said it believes that any eggs that reached grocery stores have already been "removed and replaced," it still issued a voluntary recall of shell eggs produced by those Iowa companies.

Those large, white, shell eggs were distributed to grocery stores and food-service companies in 10 states, under the brand names Albertson, Sparboe Farms, Shamrock Foods and Glenview Farms.

Consumers should look for the code stamped on the side of the egg carton. The recall covers eggs with the plant number 1167, followed by the numbers 214, 215 or 219. Consumers should not eat those eggs, but throw them away or return them to the store for a full refund.

Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy people infected with salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
 

Two Iowa farms that together recalled more than half a billion potentially tainted eggs this month share close ties, including suppliers of chickens and feed.

Both farms are linked to businessman Austin "Jack" DeCoster, who has been cited for numerous health, safety and employment violations over the years. DeCoster owns Wright County Egg, the original farm that recalled 380 million eggs Aug. 13 after they were linked to more than 1,000 reported cases of salmonella poisoning.

Another of his companies, Quality Egg, supplies young chickens and feed to both Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, the second farm that recalled another 170 million eggs a week later.

Jewanna Porter, a spokeswoman for the egg industry, said the two companies share other suppliers as well, but she did not name them.

The cause of the outbreaks is so far unknown, as Food and Drug Administration investigators are still on the ground at the farms trying to figure it out. The federal Centers for Disease Control has said the number of illnesses, estimated as high as 1,300, would likely grow.