Eggs recalled over salmonella outbreak

HALF a billion eggs in America have been recalled due to an outbreak of salmonella, which now involves two farms in Iowa.

Hillandale Farms announced it was recalling 170 million eggs after tests confirmed the presence of the bacteria. The news follows a recall of 380 million eggs by another Iowa farm earlier this week. A spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration said the two cases are linked. Regulators said salmonella cases have increased threefold since May.

The recent outbreak could be caused by rodents, shipments of contaminated hens, or tainted feed, according to Patrick McDonough, a professor at Cornell University.