Local grocery stores have been fielding scores of calls from customers concerned about the national salmonella outbreak that has sickened an estimated 2,000 people and led to the recall of nearly half a half-billion shell eggs originating from a pair of mainland producers.

Yet there has been no confirmed case of the tainted eggs being sold in Hawaii.

Over the past two weeks, Wright County Eggs of Iowa issued two recalls accounting for 328 million eggs. On Friday, Hillendale Farms, also of Iowa, recalled 170 million eggs.

The eggs were packaged under 31 different brand names, including Lucerne, which is carried by Safeway stores.

Safeway earlier confirmed that none of the egg shipments received in Hawaii is part of the recall. Regardless, local Safeway stores have been accepting returned eggs from customers who are concerned.

The recalls are specific to two codes printed on every egg carton: the plant identification number (typically preceded by a capital "P") and the Julian date (a number between 1 and 365 that corresponds to a specific day of the year).

In Hawaii, some residents have attempted to return cartons of eggs that match either a plant identification number or a Julian date listed in the recall. However, both numbers must be in the same combination as those specified on the recall list to be eligible; the numbers are not interchangeable.

An updated list of affected brands and the codes included in the recall is available at the Egg Safety Center website: www.eggsafety.org/mediacenter/alerts/73-recall-affected-brands-and-descriptions.

The Egg Safety Center is an educational subsidiary of the American Egg Board, an advertising, research and promotion organization for the egg industry.