Which Egg Brands Are in the August 2026 Recall?
If you have eggs in the fridge, check the short side of the carton for plant code P-1950 or 0840962 and a Julian date between 157 and 184. Those cartons, sold as Kroger, Simple Truth, Brookshire's, Country Morning, and Cal-Maine Sunups, are part of a Class I recall tied to a Salmonella outbreak now in seventeen states. If it matches, throw it out or return it for a refund. Keeping other eggs? Cook until both yolk and white are firm.
The FDA upgraded this recall to Class I on August 13, 2026. That's its highest tier, reserved for products with a reasonable probability of causing serious harm or death. It covers 1,589,577 dozen eggs from two Texas farms, produced between June 6 and July 3 and shipped to retailers and food service in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The linked Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak has sickened 98 people, with 26 hospitalized and no deaths reported so far.
The one check that decides everything
The eggs look normal. They pass the sniff test. You can't tell a contaminated egg from a clean one by opening the carton. What you can do is read what's printed on it.
Recalled cartons carry the brand names Kroger, Simple Truth, Brookshire's, Country Morning, or Cal-Maine Sunups. On the short side of the carton you'll find a plant code and a Julian date (the day of the year). The recall covers plant code P-1950 or 0840962 with Julian dates 157 through 184, and sell-by or best-by dates from July 20 to August 17, 2026. If your carton matches, don't cook through and hope. Discard it, or take it back for a refund.
| What to check | Recall marker | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Kroger, Simple Truth, Brookshire's, Country Morning, or Cal-Maine Sunups | If not one of these, not in this recall |
| Plant code | P-1950 or 0840962 | Printed on the short side of the carton |
| Julian date | 157 to 184 | Day-of-year stamp; outside this range is not in scope |
| Sell-by / best-by | July 20 to August 17, 2026 | Confirms the date window |
| State of purchase | AR, LA, MS, NM, OK, TX | Distribution states; illnesses have spread wider through travel and secondary shipping |
The eggs were shipped to six states, but illnesses have turned up in seventeen. If your carton matches the brand, plant code, and date, treat it as recalled regardless of where you bought it.
What to watch for if you already ate one
Most healthy adults who eat a contaminated egg get a rough few days and recover on their own. Nontyphoidal Salmonella usually shows up within 6 to 72 hours after exposure, occasionally as late as a week. It presents as diarrhea, cramps, and fever, sometimes with nausea and vomiting. Symptoms typically resolve in four to seven days.
The same exposure is a different event for a vulnerable person. Invasive infection, where Salmonella enters the bloodstream, is uncommon but serious. Pooled global data put its case fatality near 15%, though that figure is skewed by sub-Saharan Africa and HIV-affected populations. In the Americas and Europe it's closer to 10%, and among healthy US adults lower still. Risk climbs steeply with age: in people 70 and older, invasive disease can kill roughly half of those it strikes. Infants, adults over 65, pregnant people, and anyone immunocompromised carry the most risk. Older adults often show fewer of the classic symptoms yet get hospitalized more often. The presentation looks mild while the illness isn't.
Get medical care promptly for a vulnerable household member with any of these symptoms after eating a recalled egg, and for anyone with bloody stools, high fever, signs of dehydration, or diarrhea lasting more than a few days. Antibiotics aren't routine for uncomplicated cases, but they matter when the infection turns invasive, and earlier recognition is what makes that decision possible.
Why washing and appearance don't help
Salmonella Enteritidis is the serotype most strongly associated with contamination inside an intact egg. It colonizes the hen's intestine, spreads systemically to her reproductive tract, and is deposited into the albumen or onto the yolk membrane before the shell forms. The shell seals over a small dose of bacteria that's already there. That's why an outwardly clean, refrigerated, USDA-graded egg can still make you sick, and why shell washing and candling reduce risk without eliminating it. Other serotypes, such as S. Typhimurium, can contaminate egg contents too, just less efficiently.
Refrigeration slows the problem but doesn't fix it. In a fresh egg, the bacterial count is usually low. Over time, and especially at warmer temperatures, the vitelline membrane around the yolk becomes more permeable and bacteria migrate into the nutrient-rich yolk, where they multiply quickly. That's why cold-chain breaks between the farm, the store, and your fridge matter, and why leaving eggs on the counter for a day isn't the same as keeping them at 4°C.
What actually kills it: heat, to a firm yolk
The kitchen defense is heat. The USDA endpoint for egg dishes is an internal temperature of 71°C (160°F), which inactivates Salmonella by many orders of magnitude, more than enough to neutralize any realistic dose in a contaminated egg. The visual proxy is simple: both the white and the yolk should be firm. Yolk begins to thicken around 62°C and the white gels near 65°C and firms up above that, so a fully set egg has passed through the lethal range.
That means scrambled eggs cooked through, hard-boiled eggs, and casseroles baked until set. The risky dishes are the ones you'd expect: runny yolks, over-easy and sunny-side up, soft scrambles, hollandaise, homemade mayo, aioli, Caesar dressing, tiramisu, browned-but-not-baked meringue, cookie dough, cake batter. If a recipe calls for raw or lightly cooked eggs and you want to keep making it, pasteurized shell eggs are heat-treated in the shell (around 57°C for about an hour) and are the straightforward substitute. Fewer than 3% of US eggs are pasteurized, and it isn't required, so you have to look for them.
One limit: the standard advice applies to the egg alone. Dishes that add hot food to raw egg, like carbonara, don't reliably reach a Salmonella-killing temperature if the eggs were heavily contaminated. If someone in your household is high-risk, treat those preparations the same as any other raw-egg dish and use pasteurized eggs.
How the story could change
The FDA and CDC are still investigating. A few developments would change the answer: the recall expanding to new brands, plant codes, or retailers; a reported death or invasive infection tied to this outbreak; or evidence that this strain is unusually heat-resistant or antibiotic-resistant. None of that has been reported as of mid-August 2026, but the case count has been climbing. If you buy eggs regularly from any of the named brands, recheck the FDA recall notice.
A Class I label sounds alarming because it's designed to. It flags a real, potentially fatal risk to the wrong person on the wrong day. For anyone standing at the fridge, the response is unusually concrete. The egg can't be judged by how it looks. It can be judged by what's printed on the carton, and by the temperature it reaches in the pan.