Egg recall reaches Northeast Wisconsin

GREEN BAY - One of the nation's largest egg recalls is emptying shelves at some Northeast Wisconsin grocery stores and keeping others busy fielding calls from customers.

Two Iowa farms have now been linked to an outbreak of salmonella poisoning. It has sickened more than 1,300 people across more than a dozen states, including Wisconsin.

At this point the farms have called back roughly half a billion eggs, leaving a common comfort food not so comforting for Jamie Zoch.

"We had the matching numbers - almost like the lottery, but in a bad kind," Zoch of Green Bay said.

He not only purchased eggs that were part of the massive recall, he and his pregnant wife had already eaten quite a few.

"She did a little baking and made some hard-boiled eggs, so hopefully that's why she hasn't gotten sick at all," Zoch said.

He says the wait has been scary, but it's been several days, so he's hoping they're in the clear.

Health officials, however, say people in Northeast Wisconsin should be vigilant.

"Absolutely, these eggs are being distributed in Wisconsin so people should be looking in their fridge," Kurt Eggebrecht with the Appleton Health Department said.

Eggebrecht says symptoms of salmonella can take 12 to 72 hours to begin showing.

"It could be a day or two you know since they've eaten them," he said. "Sometimes people think, 45 minutes if I don't have a reaction, you know then there's not going to be a problem."

FOX 11 contacted a number of grocery stores to find out which are affected. Roundy's, Woodman's, Festival Foods and Piggly Wiggly all say they don't carry the recalled brands.

Wisconsin Walmart stores do.

The company has pulled eggs off the shelves of nearly 630 stores nationwide, including stores in Green Bay and Appleton.

In a statement Walmart says, "Customers who suspect they may have eggs associated with the recall are encouraged to return the product to their local store for verification."

Zoch plans to hang on to his.

"If she does get sick, these are our ticket to have some proof that she ate some of these eggs," he said.

He just hopes it won't come to that.

Many of the area stores that do not carry the recalled brands have put up signs alerting customers their products are safe. 

All the area grocery stores FOX 11 contacted say they are keeping a close watch on the expanding recalls.