The Food and Drug Administration has classified a recall of nearly 1.6 million dozen Texas shell eggs as Class I, its most serious designation, reserved for products where there is a reasonable probability that use will cause serious health consequences or death. The agency reclassified the recall this week, about three weeks after the voluntary recall was announced.
The practical urgency comes from the calendar. Recalled cartons carry sell-by or best-by dates running from July 20 through August 17, which means the last of them expires Monday. Households that still have a suspect carton have a narrow window to check it before the date rolls past and the carton stops looking like a recall item.
