Personal Injury Law

Egg Recall by the Numbers - How many chickens does it take to make 380,000,000 Eggs?

By Bill Marler, Esq.

On August 13, Wright County Egg conducted a nationwide recall of shell eggs on 3 of its 5 farms. Further epidemiologic and traceback information led to Wright County Egg expanding its recall on August 18 to cover all 5 farms and 380,000,000 eggs.

• Shell eggs under the August 13, 2010 recall are packaged under the brand names: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph's, Boomsma's, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps. Shell eggs are packed in 6-egg cartons, 12-egg cartons, 18-egg cartons, and loose eggs with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 225 and plant numbers 1026, 1413 and 1946. (89 days of production – May 16, 2010 to August 13, 2010).
• Recalled shell eggs affected by the expanded recall are packaged under the brand names: Albertsons, Farm Fresh, James Farms, Glenview, Mountain Dairy, Ralphs, Boomsma, Lund, Kemps and Pacific Coast. Eggs are packed in varying sizes of cartons (6-egg, 12-egg, and18-egg cartons, and loose eggs for institutional use and repackaging) with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 229 and plant numbers 1720 and 1942. (93 days of production – May 16, 2010 to August 17, 2010).

So, I am a lawyer, not a mathematician - but here is goes. I person close to a few chickens told me that chickens do not necessarily lay every day, so I should presume that about 75% are producing on any given day. We know that the recall to date is over 89 or 93 days – call it an average of 91 days. Therefore, in 91 days the chickens produced 380,000,000 eggs or about 4,175,824 eggs a day. Now it is getting harder for me. So, if only 75% of the chickens are producing on any given day, you need about 5,219,490 chickens to get to 4,175,824 eggs a day and 380,000,000 produced over 91 days. That, assuming my math is close, is a hell of a lot of chickens – even in 5 farms.

Full post as published by Marler Blog on August 20, 2010 (boomark / email).