Food safety regulators don’t expect any more recalls after last week’s withdrawal of about 550 million eggs from the U.S. market, but inspections are still going on following a salmonella outbreak traced to two Iowa farms, federal officials said Monday.

Jeff Farrar, the associate commissioner for food safety at the Food and Drug Administration, said it was “a little premature” to discuss the findings of those inspections.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said on Sunday night that farms involved in the recall fell short of safety standards. Farrar would not release details of the inspections, which also involve a third operation that supplied the two egg producers, but the results could be released later this week, he said.

About 1,300 cases of salmonella have been linked to eggs from Wright County Eggs and Hillandale Farms of Iowa, forcing a recall of their products in at least 17 states, the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control said Monday. Wright County Egg has recalled 380 million eggs, while Hillandale Farms recalled 170 million eggs.

“We have a very complicated network of food distribution in this country,” Hamburg said. “You start with a couple of farms in Iowa and you can get nationwide exposure.”

Speaking on a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon, she said federal regulations that took effect in July could have prevented the recall.

“We believe that had these rules been in place at an earlier time, it would have very likely enabled us to identify the problems on this farm before this kind of outbreak occurred,” she said.

The FDA was talking with the two egg producers to gain access to their premises to look around and examine their records. “We’re continuing to investigate to make sure that we fully understand the source of the contamination,” Hamburg said.

(Source: CNN)