About the Recalled Product
The recalled product is Kirkland Signature Organic Pasture Raised Eggs, sold in 24-count plastic cartons bearing UPC 9661910680, Julian code 327, and a use-by date of January 5–6, 2025. The eggs were sold at 25 Costco locations in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee beginning November 22, 2024.
Latest Updates
Handsome Brook Farms initiated the voluntary recall on November 27, 2024, after discovering that eggs flagged internally as unsuitable for retail distribution — originating from an environment that had tested positive for Salmonella — were mistakenly packaged as Kirkland Signature product and shipped to Costco stores [1]. The FDA escalated the recall to Class I status on December 20, 2024, formally determining that the product posed a risk of serious harm or death [2]. No confirmed illnesses had been reported as of the recall’s publication [3].
A Costco Exclusive Product Carrying a Hidden Contamination Risk
Kirkland Signature is Costco’s house brand — a label that carries significant consumer trust built on the warehouse chain’s reputation for rigorous supplier standards and quality control. A Costco member purchasing a 24-count carton of organic, pasture-raised eggs under the Kirkland Signature label had every reason to assume those eggs had passed through a supply chain with adequate safety controls in place before reaching a retail carton.
The recall reveals the opposite: Handsome Brook Farms’ own internal controls had identified these eggs as originating from a Salmonella-positive environment and flagged them as not suitable for retail distribution — but those controls failed to prevent the eggs from being packaged in Kirkland Signature cartons and shipped to 25 Costco locations anyway. The very quality assurance system that should have stopped these eggs from reaching consumers is what identified the problem after the fact.
Three Weeks Between Voluntary Recall and Highest-Risk Classification
The voluntary recall was announced November 27, 2024, but the FDA did not issue its Class I designation until December 20, 2024 — a 23-day interval during which the recalled eggs still carried a use-by date of January 5–6, 2025, meaning consumers holding the product had not yet been given a date-based reason to discard it. During that window, 10,800 packages of eggs bearing the FDA’s eventual highest-risk classification were sitting in household refrigerators without the formal government designation that would have conveyed the full severity of the hazard.
The Class I designation — reserved for situations where there is a reasonable probability of serious adverse health consequences or death — was applied retroactively to a product already in consumers’ hands across five states.
Salmonella Risk in Eggs Consumed Without Full Cooking
Salmonella contamination in eggs is not visible and cannot be detected by smell or taste; it can be present inside the egg itself, not only on the shell surface, making handling precautions alone insufficient to eliminate the risk. Infection causes diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps typically within 12 to 72 hours of exposure and can become life-threatening in infants, the elderly, pregnant women, and immunocompromised individuals through dehydration or bacterial spread to the bloodstream.
Consumers who purchase premium organic pasture-raised eggs — the kind that command a higher price point at a warehouse retailer — frequently use them in preparations where the yolk remains undercooked: soft-boiled, poached, over-easy, or incorporated into hollandaise or Caesar dressing, where the Salmonella thermal kill step is never reached.
Reported Illnesses
No confirmed illnesses were reported to Handsome Brook Farms or the FDA in connection with the recalled Kirkland Signature eggs as of the recall announcement. Given the product’s southeastern regional distribution, consumers who fell ill after consuming the eggs may not have linked a gastrointestinal illness to this specific product, particularly given the 23-day gap before the FDA issued its Class I designation and the publicity associated with it.
Can I File a Lawsuit?
If you developed a Salmonella infection after consuming Kirkland Signature Organic Pasture Raised Eggs with Julian code 327 and a use-by date of January 5–6, 2025, you may have product liability claims against Handsome Brook Farms and Costco. Contact an attorney promptly, as state filing deadlines apply.
What to Do Now
Do not eat any Kirkland Signature Organic Pasture Raised 24-Count Eggs bearing UPC 9661910680, Julian code 327, and a use-by date of January 5–6, 2025 — discard the product immediately or return it to any Costco location for a full refund. Contact Handsome Brook Farms at 646-733-4532, ext. 1 (Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–6 p.m. ET) or at recall@hbfeggs.com.
References
1. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/handsome-brook-farms-issues-recall-kirkland-signature-organic-pasture-raised-24-count-eggs-because
2. https://www.wfae.org/united-states-world/2024-12-27/costco-egg-recall-for-salmonella-receives-fdas-most-severe-designation
3. https://foodpoisoningbulletin.com/2024/kirkland-signature-organic-pasture-eggs-recalled-for-salmonella/