Health officials are again bracing for yet another wave of illness linked to Easter gifts of baby chicks and ducklings.

Last year 68 people got salmonella in 20 states from handling baby chicks and ducklings, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost a third were under age 6.

CDC's Casey Barton Bahravesh told USA Today’s Elizabeth Weise there have been more than 35 U.S. outbreaks of salmonella caused by exposure to chicks, ducklings and other live poultry since 1990, and most of those who got sick were young children.

If you're buying chicks, ask if the seller tests them for salmonella, says Douglas Powell, a professor of food safety at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan. "If they look at you like you're crazy, you shouldn't buy from them."

Stores say customers don't always think through what they'll do with a chick when it becomes a chicken. The surge in interest in backyard laying flocks has helped, because there are more friends and family willing to take in a cute chick that's now a not-so-cute pullet, says Les Phillips of MyPetChicken.com, an online poultry supplier. But some chick buyers still "end up taking them to the local pet store to try to re-home them."

Half of all chicks are boys, and boy chicks grow up to be crowing roosters that can live for up to five years.

If that chick goes on to produce eggs, Professor Ben Chapman of North Carolina State University says hard boiled eggs used in egg hunts shouldn’t be eaten afterwards because the shells can crack, allowing bacteria to enter.

Officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimated 142,000 illnesses are caused each year by consumption of eggs contaminated with Salmonella, and that even eggs with clean, un-cracked shells may occasionally contain the bacteria Salmonella.

The FDA recommends to:
-- Buy eggs only if sold from a refrigerator or refrigerated case.
-- Open the carton and make sure that the eggs are clean and the shells are not cracked.
-- Refrigerate promptly.
-- Store eggs in their original carton and use them within three weeks for best quality.
-- Wash hands, utensils, equipment, and work surfaces with hot, soapy water before and after they come in contact with eggs and egg-containing foods.
-- Cook eggs until both the yolk and the white are firm. Scrambled eggs should not be runny.
-- Casseroles and other dishes containing eggs should be cooked to 160 degrees F.
-- For recipes that call for eggs that are raw or undercooked when the dish is served -- Caesar salad dressing and homemade ice cream -- use either shell eggs that have been treated to destroy Salmonella, by pasteurization or another approved method, or pasteurized egg products.

Alysa Golden didn't want to become an egg mogul. She just wanted a good egg - farm fresh, free from hormones, laid by chickens raised in a cruelty free environment.

Her quest for the perfect egg led her to a Mennonite community in Southwestern Ontario. The farm delivered them to her front door.

"The eggs were wonderful, full and thick and rich," says Golden. Two months ago Golden started ordering eggs for her east end Toronto neighbours. She leaves the eggs on her porch and her neighbours pick them up, cross their name off a clipboard and stuff a cheque in a box.

It's based on an honor system. And she hasn't lost a dime.

According to the Toronto Star, Golden’s venture spoke to the untapped need of many consumers to get back to basics and to understand where their food is from at the most elemental level.

The locavore movement is not new, of course. Buying food from nearby farms makes sense, both from a health and carbon footprint standpoint, although Toronto Public Health warns consumers against purchasing eggs outside normal channels.

Many high-end restaurants exploit the farm fresh movement in their marketing. But this wasn't about eating a fancy dinner. It was about city parents, tired of stuffing processed food into their kids, wanting to introduce their children to a "real" egg, says Golden.

Buoyed by her success, Golden started distributing eggs from her company, which she called Eggy Weggs. The other "depots" included a couple of health food stores in Toronto and most recently the popular Lazy Daisy Café in the Leslieville neighbourhood.

Chapman doesn't make a profit off the sales. Her café is simply a pick up station. And like Golden's home, the honor system is in effect, with egg buyers picking up their trays and crossing their name off the clipboard.

The eggs cost $6.50 per dozen, which is about a buck and a half below what comparable products might sell for, says Golden.

But Jim Chan, manager of healthy environments for Toronto Public Health, says shoppers should ask if the eggs have been graded and are legal. "Just because it says farm fresh, that's not good enough. Everything's farm fresh, it's not like the guy got them out of his basement," says Chan.

Chan's staff cracked down on egg vendors in February and March. Six vendors were notified they will be charged for having ungraded eggs. By law, eggs must be sorted, washed, and inspected to be free of leaks and cracks. Only Canada Grade A eggs are allowed for human consumption.

"If there is a hairline crack you could get salmonella or bacteria inside the shell which can lead to real health problems," says Chan.

Last February, Toronto Public Health charged six other vendors. Farm Fresh Supermarket at Sheppard Ave. E was fined $10,000 on egg-related charges.

Golden says her eggs are from farms that have their produce graded at the Green Meadow Eggs grading station in Southwestern Ontario.

An official from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency contacted by the Star said Green Meadows is a certified grader.

An Alberta farmer will serve 37 days in jail for contempt of court after he refused to stop selling filthy, low-grade eggs on Calgary street corners despite repeatedly being ordered to stop.

Elmar Augart, 75, has already paid $14,000 in fines and served two weeks in jail for ignoring a decade’s worth of orders from the courts and health inspectors that he stop selling eggs without a permit.

“What will it take to finally get Mr. Augart to obey health and safety legislation, or court orders?” Rob O’Neill, a prosecutor for Alberta Health Services, asked court. “It’s clear he needs to go back to jail for a longer time to get the message across.”

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Stephen Hillier did not hesitate to agree to a jail sentence.

“It is clear that prior penalties have not engaged the attention of Mr. Augart,” Hillier said.

Augart’s trouble with illegal eggs began in September 2002 when he was convicted of selling them without a permit. That was followed by a second conviction in March 2003. He paid a total of $14,000 in fines.

Then in August 2003, Augart was caught selling eggs out of cardboard boxes on a street corner in Calgary’s Chinatown. He used no refrigeration and the eggs he sold were reaching 31 C while waiting to be sold. In that incident, health officials seized and destroyed 2,000 eggs.

O’Neill said that the eggs Augart sold were discoloured, misshapen and covered with feathers and bird feces. They were low-grade eggs rejected from other sources and sold as “farm-fresh” by Augart.

In November 2010, he was again caught selling eggs in Calgary’s Chinatown. He was also found to be selling eggs to restaurants, cafes and catering companies.

Augart’s eggs were linked to a salmonella outbreak in Calgary in late 2010. More than 4,000 eggs were seized from four catering companies and traced back to him.

He was caught twice more, in December 2010 and March 2011. His truck was seized and impounded. Augart was asked where the eggs came from and where he planned to deliver them.

In a recent affidavit to court, Augart tried to explain himself.

“I estimate I’ve broken even selling eggs,” he wrote. “I have continued for pleasure because I have sold eggs in and around Calgary since 1957.”

In May 2009, diarrhea and fever developed in 8 persons living in southwestern France one day after they ate a homemade tiramisu prepared with raw eggs. Fecal analysis was performed on samples from 5 of the 8 persons. French investigators also cultured a sample from the tiramisu. In medical laboratories, the isolation was performed by using standard procedures (i.e., use of conventional selective media). Isolation from the food sample was performed as required by the current International Organization for Standardization ISO 6579:2002 (i.e., by 2 selective enrichment media). All cultures yielded S. enterica subsp. enterica 4,5,12:–:–.

An investigation at the suspected layer farm was conducted and showed the presence of 11 nonmotile Salmonella spp. isolates (with the same antigenic formula) in dust and feces collected from laying-hen houses. The layer farm, located in northwestern France, is a major farm that produces >32,000,000 eggs per year. All 17 isolates (5 from humans, 1 from the tiramisu, and 11 from the laying hens) were pan-susceptible to all antimicrobial drugs tested.

The authors conclude in Emerging Infectious Diseases that the nonmotile S. enterica 4,5,12:–:– strain involved in this outbreak has been present in laying hens in France for the past decade. Despite continuous advances in food safety and disease surveillance, control, and prevention, atypical pathogenic Salmonella spp. strains that bypass existing procedures do emerge. Foodborne bacterial infections remain a major public health concern.

This food poisoning outbreak also highlighted the need for a second selective enrichment media for Salmonella spp. detection not based on the motility in complement to the modified semisolid Rappaport-Vassiladis medium recommended as a single medium by the European Directive.

Complete paper available at http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/1/11-0450_article.htm.