AUGUSTA — Maine egg producers have come up clean in testing for dangerous salmonella by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Maine State Veterinarian Don Hoenig says it’s now been more than a year since any of Maine’s major commercial egg farms have tested positive for the bacterium salmonella enteritidis.

That’s the strain responsible for last summer’s salmonella outbreak that sickened hundreds of people in multiple states and led to the recall of 550 million eggs from Iowa farms.

The FDA tested the farms this fall as part of the new federal Egg Safety Rule, which requires farms with more than 50,000 hens to implement measures to prevent salmonella.

Maine has its own set of state regulations that go beyond federal requirements when it comes to egg safety.