228 million.
That's how many eggs are being recalled due to potential salmonella poisoning. With all those cartons pulled off shelves, both customers and grocery stores are left dealing with the mess.
"I made breakfast for dinner and that night I woke up in the middle of the night really sick to my stomach, horrible stomach pains," said Lacy Clayton.
Clayton usually cracks an egg or two for a quick easy meal.
"I always make eggs for breakfast for me and my son and to just all of a sudden get horrible stomach pains was really surprising I didn't expect it," said Clayton.
“After you consume recalled eggs anywhere from 12 to 72 hours, you're going to start to not feel so good," said Brian Hanft, environmental health services manager.
Hanft says salmonella symptoms are a lot like the flu.
"You’re going to probably have some kind of abdominal cramps that start it off, you're probably going to have a fever, and you're probably going to have severe diarrhea," said Hanft.
At the grocery store the recall is something they're still dealing with.
"We got phone calls all day long; I probably took five phone calls today just on recalled eggs," said Bryan Kladstrup, employee at Clear Lake’s Fareway.
Kladstrup says when customers bring recalled eggs back it's the store's responsibility to destroy them.
"Not really scientific matter we take them, throw them in the dumpster," said Kladstrup.
Clear Lake Fareway got rid of 1,000 cartons of eggs on the first day of the recall. Kladstrup says that much product lost can be costly.
"When you destroy 1,000 cartons of eggs on the first day we're going to take a loss but to keep our customers happy and coming back to us means more to have our customers than to lose 60 cents on a pack of eggs," said Kladstrup.
And even though eggs in stores now are safe, it might be awhile before some people go back to cracking them.
"I can't eat them now, I just can't stomach them I look at them and I can't do it,” said Clayton.
Brian Hanft from the Cerro Gordo Department of Public Health does say if you have any of the recalled eggs, but cook them thoroughly, you should be okay. If you're not feeling that adventurous you can bring them back to the store where you purchased them for a full refund.
