The Hampton County egg supply appears to be all in a safe basket.
Local grocers say that last week's nationwide Food and Drug Administration recall of eggs linked to an outbreak of salmonella poisoning did not affect their egg supply.
"It doesn't affect us," said Piggly Wiggly Manager Eric Harriott. "I have signs posted on our egg case saying it didn't affect us, but I did have some concerns."
Both the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have linked the outbreak of salmonella specifically to two Iowa egg producers: Hillandale Farms and Wright County Egg.
In an Aug. 25 statement BI-LO officials reassured customers that its eggs are perfectly safe to east and that the two egg producers have never sold eggs to BI-LO.
The Mauldin, S.C.-based grocery chain added that it works with local vendor L&R Farms in Georgia to supply most of its store brand eggs, and purchases other brands from Pennsylvania, California, and Illinois, all of whom have confirmed that they never purchased eggs from the Iowa suppliers.
"Food safety is of paramount importance to BI-LO, and we are committed to the highest quality standards," said Mark Van Ostenbridge, director of food protection and safety at BI-LO. "At BI-LO, we maintain a strict quality-control program to ensure that all products exceed our high standards so that our customers can continue to have confidence in the quality of everything available at our stores."
The local Reid's store, which is a part of the Food Lion group, could not be reached by telephone Tuesday. According to Food Lion's website, no eggs have been recalled from its stores in 2010.
Managers at Sooper Dooper in Hampton and Galaxy Foods and Tuten's IGA in Estill also said that the recall did not affect them and that their eggs come from southeastern suppliers.