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Indiana farm recalls more than 200 million eggs

An Indiana farm is recalling more than 200 million eggs that may be contaminated with Salmonella.

Rose Acre Farms voluntarily recalled the eggs that were sold from its Hyde county, North Carolina farm to retail stores and restaurants in Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Chris Hurt, an ag economist with Purdue University, says more than 2 billion eggs are produced in the U.S. every week. He says although egg prices can be responsive to changes in supply, they don’t normally influence a consumer’s buying decision because prices are relatively modest.

Egg prices saw a high in 2015 because of avian influenza at $2.47 and this year egg prices have remained steady at around $1.79.

The FDA says there have been 22 reported illnesses. Some of the reported illnesses were linked to grocery stores where Rose Acre Farms does not supply eggs, but the company says it wanted to conduct the recall to preserve the trust it has built with consumers.

The recall by the southern-Indiana company includes eggs with the plant number P-106, with the Julian date rang of 011 through 102 printed on either side of the carton or package. Some of the brands include Country Daybreak, Food Lion, Great Value, and Sunshine Farms.

The products should be thrown away or returned.

Rose Acre Farms is the second-largest egg producer in the U.S. The North Carolina farm has 3 million hens that produce 2.3 million eggs each day. The company says it has a USDA inspector on site each day.