Nearly 19 million eggs sold under familiar grocery-store labels have been hit with the Food and Drug Administration's most serious recall classification after a salmonella outbreak sickened at least 98 people across six states, with more than a quarter of them hospitalized.

The FDA upgraded the recall to Class I this week — the agency's top danger tier, reserved for products where there is "a reasonable probability" that exposure "will cause serious adverse health consequences or death." Roughly 1.6 million dozen eggs, produced at Texas farms between June 6 and July 3, fall under the new classification.

Check Your Carton

The recalled eggs were sold under the Country Morning, Cal-Maine Sunups, Brookshire's, Simple Truth and Kroger brand names, distributed to stores in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Consumers can identify affected cartons by checking for sell-by or best-by dates between July 20 and Aug. 17, alongside plant code P-1950 or 0840962 and Julian dates ranging from 157 to 184, printed on the carton.

The producer, Midwest Poultry Services, initiated the recall on July 22, and the CDC's ongoing investigation has since tied the outbreak strain, Salmonella Enteritidis, to at least 98 illnesses in the affected states, with 26 hospitalizations and no deaths reported as of this week. Health officials caution that the true case count is likely higher, since many salmonella infections go unreported or undiagnosed.

WASH HANDS, UTENSILS AND SURFACES WITH HOT, SOAPY WATER BEFORE AND AFTER HANDLING RAW EGGS.

That's the FDA's standing guidance for anyone still holding eggs from the affected lots, in addition to its core recommendation: don't eat them. Consumers who bought the recalled cartons are urged to throw them out or return them to the store of purchase for a refund, rather than risk cooking them, since typical kitchen handling doesn't reliably eliminate contamination risk from a Class I product. Symptoms of salmonella infection typically include diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps beginning six hours to six days after exposure, and can be severe enough to require hospitalization, particularly in young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems.

This is the second major foodborne-illness scare the FDA has flagged this month; the agency is separately tracking a jalapeño-linked Salmonella Javiana outbreak tied to peppers grown in Sinaloa, Mexico. Food-safety advocates have pointed to the overlapping investigations — the FDA lists 17 active outbreak probes as of this month — as evidence of strain on an inspection system that critics say hasn't kept pace with the scale of the industrial food supply.

Midwest Poultry Services has not issued a public statement beyond the recall notice filed with the FDA. The agency says it will update the public if additional lots or brands are identified as the investigation continues, and consumers experiencing symptoms consistent with salmonella infection are advised to contact a healthcare provider and report the illness to their state or local health department.