If you’ve bought eggs in the last few weeks, this is worth a two-minute detour to your refrigerator. The FDA just upgraded a salmonella-linked egg recall to a Class 1 — the agency’s most serious classification, reserved for products with “a reasonable probability” of causing serious health consequences or death. That’s not a phrase they use lightly.

Here’s everything you need to know, minus the panic.

Wait, what actually happened?

Midwest Poultry Services, L.P., based in North Manchester, Indiana, first recalled its eggs back on July 22 after discovering they had the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis. The eggs came from two of the company’s farms in Texas, produced between June 6 and July 3. Total recalled volume: 1,589,577 dozen (that’s north of 19 million individual eggs), sold under a long list of brand names.

This week, the FDA bumped the recall up to Class 1 status, which is the highest risk tier there is. So if you’ve got eggs in the door of your fridge right now with a “Sell By” or “Best By” date somewhere between July 20 and August 17, 2026, it’s worth checking the code.

Photo: Pexels

Which eggs are we talking about?

The recalled cartons will have the identifying code P-1950 or 0840962 printed on the side, along with a Julian date between 157 and 184. Brands affected include:

  • Kroger (Large, Extra Large, Medium, Jumbo — multiple carton sizes)
  • Simple Truth Cage Free (Medium and Large Brown)
  • Brookshire’s (Large, Extra Large, Jumbo, and bulk sizes)
  • Country Morning (Large, Extra Large, Medium, Jumbo)
  • Sunups (Medium 2½ Dozen)
  • Various Grade A/AA bulk cartons sold to foodservice

The eggs were sold at Kroger stores in Texas and Louisiana, Brookshire’s stores across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Mississippi, plus a handful of smaller retail outlets in the region. If you’re not in one of those states, you’re likely in the clear… but it never hurts to flip the carton over and check. It only takes a second!

What do I do if I have them?

Don’t eat them, don’t cook with them, and certainly don’t feed them to anyone else. Return them to the store where you bought them for a full refund; there’s no receipt necessary in most cases, just bring the carton. If you have questions, Midwest Poultry Services has a consumer line set up: 574-405-9531, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern.

Photo: Pexels

What does salmonella actually feel like?

For most healthy adults, it’s miserable but not dangerous: fever, diarrhea (sometimes bloody), nausea, cramping, and vomiting, usually showing up within a few days of exposure and clearing on its own within a week. Where it gets serious is with young kids, older adults, pregnant women, and anyone with a compromised immune system. For those groups, it can lead to dehydration serious enough to need medical care, or in rare cases spread beyond the gut and cause more severe complications. If you ate any of the recalled eggs and you’re running a fever that won’t quit or seeing blood, that’s a call-your-doctor situation, not a wait-it-out one.

Is this related to the lettuce or jalapeño recalls?

Nope — different company, different bacteria pathway, unrelated investigation. It’s just been an unusually active few weeks for recalls, which, to be honest, does feel a little relentless. (We don’t make the news, we just can’t stop reading it.)

We’ll keep updating this if the FDA expands the recall further — bookmark this one and check back.