A Retrospective Review of the Food and Drug Administration's Proposed Egg Rule on Salmonella Illnesses and Outbreaks

Using a novel data set from 1998 – 2008 on foodborne illnesses, collected by the CDC, and estimating using a difference-in-differences (DD) methodology, we test whether the FDA’s proposal of “Prevention of Salmonella Enteritidis in Shell Eggs During Production” decreased the number of SE associated illnesses associated with the consumption of shell eggs. Results show that publication of the proposed rule reduced the number of salmonella illnesses by between 410 and 516 illnesses, annually. Furthermore, this reduction was achieved through a reduction in overall outbreaks associated with egg products, rather than a reduction in the average number of illnesses recorded in each outbreak. These results are robust models accounting for price, volume, national rainfall, temperature, food commodity heterogeneity, and additional regulatory actions.