Moark subsidiary sued following salmonella outbreak

Norco Ranch, a California subsidiary of Moark Egg Products, is being sued by an Illinois company that claims it was sold contaminated eggs for its egg salad product which led to an outbreak of salmonella:

The suit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Illinois by Chef Solutions Inc. It stems from a 2003 salmonella outbreak in Oregon, which it claims was caused by ready-to-mix egg-salad kits sold by Chef Solutions. The cooked eggs used in the kits were supplied by the Norco company.

The article in the Riverside Press-Enterprise continues:

The plaintiff says it was first notified September 2003 by the Oregon Department of Health of suspected salmonella in egg salad sold by Safeway stores in the Portland area. The bacteria sickened at least 17 people that year, according to the suit.

Chef Solutions immediately quarantined all egg-salad kits nationwide and pulled remaining kits from sales, the suit states. It also worked with Safeway in a recall of the egg-salad kits and destroyed hundreds of cases of the kits, according to the suit.

Prior to the outbreak, Norco Ranch supplied sealed pouches containing cooked egg yolks and whites to Chef Solutions.

According to the lawsuit, analysis from both a government and private laboratory concluded the cooked eggs were contaminated with salmonella.

Moark, which is owned by Land O'Lakes, has facilities in Neosho.