The Minnesota State health department has linked a cluster of 7 illnesses to the national egg recall.

Spokesman Doug Schultz says seven Salmonella Enteritidis illnesses were reported May 20 as part of an outbreak at a Bemidji restaurant called Mi Rancho.  The illnesses were traced to shell eggs from Hillandale Farms of Iowa.

So far, more than 1500 people have been sickened in the salmonella outbreak nationwide.

Schultz says he believes all seven of the people whose illnesses were reported today have recovered.  They bring to 14 the number of salmonella illnesses reported in Minnesota linked to three restaurants in the state.

One of the victims in the Bemidji Mi Rancho outbreak – Robin Shaffer – spoke publicly about her illness.

“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever been through,” she said. Shaffer said her bout with salmonella poisoning was much like the flu – only “times ten.”  She was ill for three weeks. “I had no energy. The pain.  You’d try to keep something in you and it just comes out.  You’re in the bathroom,” she explained.

Shaffer became sick after eating an enchilada / bean burrito / chile relleno combo at Mi Rancho on May 8.  She saw doctors at Mayo Clinic in Rochester three days later, after the symptoms would not subside.