Am I the only person having a problem with eggs?

[Monique1]

I'm not sure if any of them are safe anymore. Fresh and Easy had a great sale on eggs but I didn't buy them. I am not comfortable going out for breakfast anymore either. I think I have one egg in my fridge and wanted to make a meatloaf - I just don't know. Am I over reacting?

[NoNothing]

1. Just cook them thoroughly

If you order eggs, get them scrambled.

[Wickerman]

2. Get your eggs at a farmers market

buy local and you can avoid a whole lot of practice and chemicals that are bad for you. Ask the grower questions, find out how he/she farms and you'll be ok.

[Auggie]

12. +1. Local producers are good sources too.

[Withywindle]

49. Agreed. Buy local if you can.

Most of the tainted eggs come from big industrial factory farms.

Most of all tainted food in general does, for that matter--I mean, my great-grandparents would have laughed their asses off at the idea that vegetables like spinach and peanuts could have any animal-shit-related bacteria like e.coli in them---and yet, it happened.

[Submariner]

3. Boil em, fry em, scramble em, just don't chance

a sunny side up egg, get it over easy and all the bacteria will be killed off.

[demosincebirth]

8. Thats the way I like mine - looking at you. Odds are in your favor.

[Warpy]

4. This was answered in C&B

and we all said to cook them properly.

All the people who have gotten sick have used them raw in something: over hash, in mayo or salad dressings, and the like.

It will be perfectly safe hard boiled, scrambled, used in baked goods and used in meatloaf.

Just wash your hands after you form the mealoaf with them like you're supposed to.

[demosincebirth]

5. Last time I had food poisoning, which was terrible, I ate meatloaf. Haven't

eaten it since.

[slampoet]

6. YES you are overreacting.

Use the Egg float test to determine whether to use it.


Also a little known fact is that MOST commercial eggs are UP TO ONE YEAR OLD ALREADY.

[hedgehog]

7. I find that hard to believe - what about the cost for refrigeration and storage?

[slampoet]

18. Here is a source that is just a discussion board......

OK, I found the answer myself, from a USDA document (dated January 2006):

The definition for "Eggs of current production" (Sec. 56.1) is changed. It will specify that the term denotes eggs that are no more than 21 days old on the day of packaging instead of the present 30-day limit.

Interestingly, the document also stated:

The first definition for "eggs of current production" was added to the regulations March 1, 1955, and included a 60-day requirement. At that time, the definition allowed buyers and sellers to differentiate between relatively fresh eggs and cold storage or storage eggs. The commercial cold storage of eggs began in the U.S. around 1890, when egg production was seasonal. Cold storage could hold the spring and summer production surplus (about 50 percent of the annual production) for release during periods of relative scarcity in autumn and winter, thus avoiding drastic supply and price fluctuation. Until the 1950s, it was common for eggs to be held in refrigerated storage for up to 6 months.

I also read an article from Mother Earth News, where they tested storage of eggs. Their conclusion was that eggs refrigerated as long as 7 months (when the experiment ended) were still good.


http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=15441



Sorry I couldn't find a better source of information.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. I worked in a commercial facility

eggs leave the processing facility within 72 hours worst case. Best case, within 24... they are picked in the morning (and afternoon, we did five rounds) and processed and shipped next day. The 72 hour comes for the weekend eggs.

[GentryDixon]

21. My Mom called them cold storage eggs

when I was growing up.

[hedgehog]

27. IIRC - the entire poultry industry has changed in the last 50 years.

As the owner of a backyard flock, I can testify that egg production is seasonal (as in, come Spring, you're left trying to figure out what to do with 2 dozen eggs .........each morning). We get some eggs all year, just not the flood we get in Spring. Eggs and chickens used to be largely the province of farm wives (as in egg money) and chicken used to be a pricey treat. Old copies of Joy of Cooking have a recipe for imitation chicken made from veal. After WWII, factory farming of poultry for meat and eggs became the norm.

[bobbolink]

36. Which is why there were EASTER eggs.

To use the "flood".

[hedgehog]

56. Boy, do great minds think alike!

:fistbump:

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Yes, if you are going to make meatloaf

it will kill anything on it, since it will be WELL COOKED.

Me, buying mine from LOCAL provider this Sunday.

[undeterred]

10. Too much cholesterol for me anyway.

I'm going to try Egg Beaters.

[Monique1]

23. Actually egg beaters are good.

I make an omelet out of the whites

[tammywammy]

29. I like Egg Beaters

Edited to add, I really like the southwest version. That was actually my dinner tonight, 1/2 cup egg beaters with a slice of low-fat pepper jack cheese. Yum.

[Statistical]

58. At the grocery store take a look at ingredients on Egg Beaters.

I will take the cholesterol any day over the toxic soup the pass of as "healthy".

[undeterred]

61. I took a look at the Carton in my refrigerator

and I don't know what you're talking about.

[Bold Lib]

13. I haven't bought eggs in years. My neighbor shares what he gets from his own chickens.

[FreeState]

14. As long as the egg is heated to 140 degrees your fine

So just skip raw eggs for a while:)

[pipoman]

41. I believe 160 is the magic temp for killing all bugs...

however once the food is brought to 160 it can be held at 140 and it will remain safe.

[hobbit709]

15. I have no problem, I cook them and eat them afterwards.

If the egg is not from that lot number, don't worry. If the meatloaf is thoroughly cooked, don't worry.

Louis Pasteur had the right idea.

[damntexdem]

16. Maybe the yolk's on you. Don't be shell shocked.

Cook them thoroughly, and wash your hands well after handling raw eggs and/or their cartons.

[mmonk]

17. Yes.

Just wash them before you break the shell and cook them.

[DeschutesRiver]

31. The salmonella isn't only on the shells; it is inside as well according

to our local news station Channel 21 KTVZ here in Central Oregon.

The article I just read today said "this strain of bacteria is found inside a chicken's ovaries, and gets inside an egg", and that the chickens passing this look perfectly healthy.

Once I read that, I became undecided about what to do re: egg consumption for the time being. Don't know if it is sheer coincidence, but some part of each morning's breakfast had been giving me issues, to the point that I assumed it was bad eggs and I began to test them in cold water for floaters. But my intestinal upsets continued even after I'd verified that my eggs were fresh.

ETA: current plan is to buy eggs from local producers that are sold nearby. I also have a couple of cans of dehydrated/freeze dried (can't remember which) whole eggs that we planned to use for camping, for baking.

[mmonk]

54. Will the cooking process kill it?

[DeschutesRiver]

59. Here is a link to one of the articles I found

where it states "Thoroughly cooking eggs can kill the bacteria. But health officials are recommending people throw away or return the recalled eggs." http://www.ktvz.com/health/24703666/detail.html

I'd probably look a bit further into whether that is accurate, but seems like they think cooking it well should kill it. My intestinal upsets of the last few weeks were only after dh cooked breakfast, and the eggs were done either poached or over easy (ie, soft runny yolk, which probably doesn't fit the category of "throughly cooked").

Maybe you'd have to cook your eggs until the yolk is hard, although if you are baking something that uses raw eggs (meatloaf, cakes, etc) that isn't possible. I've heard that bakers sometimes use these powdered eggs I have to get a more consistent product, and have always wanted to give it a try. Just didn't think I'd do it because of an egg recall.

[SoCalDem]

19. We buy local, and have never had a problem and do not fear eggs

Maybe it's time to get some backyard chickens:)

[Dr.Phool]

20. Lay your own.

It's cheaper.

[kimmerspixelated]

22. I only use Nature's Promise eggs anymore, and if not avail.

I use Organic Valley or some other free range-non hormone antibiotic type.

[ThomWV]

24. You're kidding, right?

[Bitwit1234]

25. Wash and double wash your utensils and make sure they

eggs are cooked hard. I never ever ate runny eggs. And when I make ice cream I make Philadelphia style which requires not eggs. I just have a thing about undone eggs.

And our supermarket has signs that say they do not sell the recall eggs. (They never did.)

[daylan b]

26. The 'local only' crowd dangerously ignores the real problem that caused this situation.

COOK your eggs properly and you'll be just fine.

While there are plenty of issues to have with CAFOs and egg production, I'd trust their safety protocols over a random farmer a couple dozen hens in his back yard any day of the week. The idea that local grown eggs that come from an unregulated farmer are safer than factory eggs is a fantasy.

The reason you never hear about these issues with local grown stuff is they are never of a scale large enough to make national news.

[hedgehog]

30. RUn that by me again - "the reason you never hear about these issues

with local grown stuff is they are never of a scale large enough to make national news".

So factory eggs are better, because when you screw up you poison a lot more people than the small farmer?

[daylan b]

39. How the hell did you come to that conclusion?

You either lack reading comprehension skills or you intentionally twisted what I said in order to make such a claim.

I'm saying salmonella contamination is a threat whenever you have chickens and thus whenever you handle poultry meat or eggs. The suggestions that going to a farmer's market makes you safe are dangerously ignorant.

[Bluenorthwest]

32. That's absurd.

The reason you buy local small farm eggs is because they are far, far superior. Also because the farmer is not random at all, he or she is a person you actually know. That is the opposite of random, which is exactly what industrial egg production gives you, an egg from who knows where.
My local area is filled with small farms, and 'these issues' would be all over the paper and the tv too, as the stories about bad canning practices and the various ups and downs of local crops are always, always news. So if 'these issues' were happening, I'd know it locally faster than nationally.
But again, better egg, produced by a specific person or persons.

[daylan b]

37. None of which has anything to do with salmonella.

An egg can be nutritious and still have salmonella on it.

BTW, you do know there was a salmonella outbreak at an Iowa farmer's market just last month right?

[Gormy Cuss]

35. Regulation doesn't seem to have solved the problem at factory farms.

As for salmonella contamination at local farms, sure, it happens. Scale IS important however. Salmonella contamination from one farm would be easy to trace and easy to nip in the bud. Thousands upon thousands of CAFO eggs going to many states make containment of it much, much harder and probably more costly too.

There has been at least one British study showing that salmonella levels are many times higher in factory farm conditions (google Soil Association.) I don't know how rigorous that study is but I'd bet that a controlled U.S. study would show the same.

[daylan b]

38. I never said it did.

I'm pointing out the danger of believing you are safe from salmonella just because you bought your eggs at a farmer's market instead of a grocery store.

[Gormy Cuss]

42. No, you compared factory farms to the "unregulated farmer"

which is why I made that comment.

[daylan b]

43. Point taken on the "unregulated farmer" comment.

It wasn't the point I was trying to get across and was a poor choice of words.

[david13]

28. I can't see why anyone would ever eat one. I have no problem with

never eating them. I don't and won't.
Eckspecially people who are against abortion. Eating the embryo is giving an abortion.
Chicken, quail, etc embryos? Yecch!!
dc

[Monique1]

34. I'm going to give up eggs

I like the yolk runny and smear my toast or taters in the yolk. Another thing to give up.

[pipoman]

46. Many, many

of the best dishes on the planet require eggs..I'll keep eating them, thank you very much..

[hlthe2b]

33. Cook them.... and don't worry

if you are going to use them raw or semi-cooked--worry.

[Canuckistanian]

40. What's with people and eggs these days?

It's fairly hard to fuck up an egg meal.

And last I heard, eggs were NOT a public safety issue. Not even the "unregulated" eggs you get at the Farmer's Market.

Are there any mass egg deaths I haven't heard of?

[pipoman]

45. Good point

people should be careful and use good, hygienic habits in the kitchen and in the bathroom. Know the risks associated with things put in the body and ways to mitigate those risks.

On a side note, I once hire a 24 year old to wash dishes at a restaurant. He was bright enough, just needed money and low skills. One day I asked him to crack some eggs and then left the kitchen. Returning a couple of minutes and he is standing there looking at an egg. He didn't know how to break an egg....they can be screwed up..:D

[Canuckistanian]

48. Took me nearly 20 years to know how to crack an egg properly

It's a "learned art" for some of us.

[pipoman]

44. All of the responses proclaiming

safety by using farm fresh eggs are completely wrong...I like and often use farm fresh local eggs too..they are not salmonella free. Salmonella is spread through fecal contamination. Chickens often carry salmonella in their digestive tract. When eggs are taken from the nests by the local farmer they quite often have shit on them. The farmer washes the shit off. Salmonella can't be washed off without sophisticated expertise. Don't kid yourself, there are only 3 ways to be safe from salmonella regarding eggs:

1. Don't eat eggs.

2. Cook your eggs to 160 degrees.

3. Buy pasteurized eggs either in a carton or shell pasteurized.

That's it.

[NoNothing]

50. Can they irradiate eggs?

Seems to me that would be a good alternative to pasteurization.

[pipoman]

53. Not sure,

I do know that the only eggs which are allowed to be undercooked in nursing homes in my state and by USDA standards are pasteurized. Pasteurized 2 weeks ago were a little over 2/3 more per case than unpasteurized, today I looked and they are 125% more..apparently one company holds the patent to the process thus driving the price.

[noamnety]

47. I checked the product codes on my carton.

It was fine, so I plan to carry on as usual with the raw eggs since I've been saving up bacon grease this week in the fridge to try some homemade bacon-mayo.

[mzteris]

51. here's the recall list:

http://www.eggsafety.org/mediacenter/alerts/73-recall-affected-brands-and-descriptions

go to the link - the chart doesn't copy/paste coherently. . .



Do I have contaminated eggs in my refrigerator?

Maybe. Some 380 million eggs, sold under at least 16 different brand names, have been recalled. The egg industry has posted an updated list of recalled egg brands and their identifying package details.


" .. . Hundreds of millions of eggs would make a lot of omelets. But the recalled eggs actually represent less than 1% of the U.S. egg supply. The U.S. produces around 67 billion eggs each year. About 47 billion are sold in the shell as table eggs; the rest are processed into products such as pasta, cake mix, ice cream, mayonnaise, and baked goods.

[trackfan]

52. I didn't know about the egg thing until tonight.

Good thing too. I probably wouldn't have made that Caesar Salad with the coddled egg earlier this week; and it was good!

[sendero]

55. Boil them...

... best way to cook them anyway :)

[-..__...]

57. Oh no... contamintaed eggs?

Cotton... cotton! What am I going to do???

[DFW]

60. I do and I don't

I have severe cholesterol issues (problem), so I can't eat them any more (no more problem).