Summer 1997 Poultry Press

Center for Science in the Public Interest Press Conference May 14, 1997 Washington, DC

"Eggs Contaminated with Salmonella Have Put Consumers At Risk Across the Nation"

Eggs have become the number one contributor to food poisoning outbreaks, with hundreds of thousands of Americans getting sick or dying every year. A type of Salmonella known as enteritidis causes an estimated 200,000 to 1 million human cases of salmonellosis each year. Contaminated eggs cause at least 80 percent of these illnesses. Between 1980 and 1995, the number of reported illnesses in the U.S. from Salmonella enteritidis (SE) increased by more than five times. Consumers' risk of becoming ill from Salmonella in eggs has increased by 400 percent since 1980.

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