Salmonella-in-eggs controversy
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
Problem with not refrigerating eggs is that they start change after a few weeks, going bad is not the proper term, less fresh would be more apt, another few weeks and things start turning green (Dr Seuss did not invent those green eggs) and are still not bad in the sense of not being able to eat them but they are far from appetizing in anyway. Modern world requires eggs to last longer, could be 3 months before an egg hits the shelf at the grocery store, so we wash them and keep them refrigerated.
Salmonella is still on the shell of washed eggs, most comes off with the bloom (the coating on a fresh egg) but the bloom is not perfect. So we keep our washed eggs in the fridge to slow growth and store the eggs in a carton which can absorb anything which condenses on them when you take them out of the fridge.
The best by date on an egg carton mostly refers to raw consumption, moisture in the fridge and moisture that condenses on the shell when you take them out will slowly seep into the egg and carry the salmonella into the part we eat and where the salmonella can grow and multiply to dangerous levels for raw. If you have gone past the use by date you may want to skip those soft boiled or sunny side up eggs but they are fine for more firmly cooked eggs and probably fine for soft boiled and sunny side up unless you are well past the use by date.
Do you have a source on this? I'm having trouble finding anything that says refrigerating unwashed eggs has any effect other than simply helping them last longer.
Maybe the general wisdom refers to taking eggs from the fridge and storing them on the counter, rather than using them?
I can not provide a source off the top of my head, been a few years since I went through my egg curiosity phase. But it is a simple experiment, take an egg out of the fridge on a hot humid day, you will see water condense on them, and if you let it sit you will see that water absorb in, it will disappear faster than evaporation could explain. This will be easiest to see on a washed egg since the bloom on an unwashed egg helps some, but the bloom is never perfect and each time water condenses on the egg it damages the bloom.
Far from true everywhere, including in the UK which the article is about.
Here in Ireland, it would even be illegal to sell washed eggs in a supermarket.
Here in EU eggs have printed on them the date they were laid, I never seen eggs in a supermarket more than a few days older.
I've heard the idea that it's temperature change which causes things to cross the barrier, and the fridge is the place in your kitchen with the most stable temperature.
Correct, but it is not temperature change in general, it is when that change is great enough to cause condensation. Everytime you take something out of the fridge it generally will cause water to condense on the surface because of that temperature change from cold fridge to warm kitchen, same reason you glass of cold water sweats on a hot summer day.
The conventional wisdom here probably changes with region (as conventional wisdom often does) since everywhere does not have the same climate. UK is a rather damp place so fridge is probably safer for much of the year. On reflection I did not think that part through completely, did not take into account everyone having a different local climate.
USA regulations have eggs externally washed and disinfected, and require they be kept at a low temperature for storage and transportation. The point of washing is to remove external salmonella contamination from the outside of the egg. The washing process removes some of the natural barrier from the egg and leaves it much more susceptible to bacteria penetrating through the shell and contaminating the egg, so they must be kept cool or refrigerated to help limit and slow the bacteria penetration process.
Eggs are not refrigerated in Europe and are still generally healthy to eat. In most of the EU washing eggs is actually illegal, because it removes the protective coat that helps prevent bacteria from entering eggs. To prevent salmonella there have been some vaccination campaigns where EU chickens are mass vaccinated against salmonella (which is not a requirement in the US). I think in the UK you must have vaccinated all your egg producing chickens to be certified, but other countries are less strict.
Refrigerating with or without the protective coat extends the shelf life.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC173326/
Unless the rules changed within the last six years, if a hen house returns a positive environmental Salmonella Enteritidis test and the farm is large enough they must undergo an egg break test to show that the eggs themselves are not infected with SE before they can be sold to consumers. If the egg test is positive the eggs can only be sold as some form of pasteurized egg product until testing shows negative.
Page 47 if you're bored. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2009-07-09/pdf/E9-161...
I can find these studies suggesting salmonella inhibits biotin in the gut[1], and this link suggesting a biotin deficiency can increase susceptibility to salmonella [2].
However one thing that can not be disputed is the reduction in choline intake from the egg yolk would have dumbed down the nation much like covid has dumbed down the world aka brain fog.
Maybe we need a law to sue political parties out of existence if they screw the nation.
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4504957 [2] https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews/article-abstract/4...
Portion Down is the site of a UK military facility specialising in research into chemical and biological hazards.
/Brit
I usually store eggs outside a fridge. A pack of 18 eggs will last me about 3 weeks and I've not had one spoil yet.
In Europe eggs are sold unwashed and I can assure you there is nothing on them except for a white or brownish shell. Occasionally a down gets lost in the packaging - that's it. The shell gets permeable when the protective layers are removed by washing it and that's why eggs are sold refrigerated in the US. In Europe eggs are neither washed nor refrigerated.
Maybe they're getting a thorough wipe? That's about the only way I could imagine this happening, unless you have 24/7 surveillance to clean as soon as they poop and snatch up the eggs. Even then, both sometimes happen simultaneously.
In America, we mandate that eggs are washed in a chemical bath. This diminishes the bloom and replaces it with a chemical wash.
Both mechanisms are ostensibly intended to prevent Salmonella, but I don't have data on which is more effective.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmonella-in-eggs_controver...
If the noise/ratio per roll of the random button is too high for you, I built an infinite scroll version of Wikipedia for myself using a similar mechanism, you’re free to use it:
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food expressed anger towards Currie's comments and the Department of Health was unable to back up her claims.[1] In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture had previously tested eggs without finding any salmonella. The chance of becoming ill with salmonella was put at less than 1 in 200 million.[8]
In December 2001, a Whitehall report was revealed that had been produced in February 1989, two months after Currie's resignation, and covered up by the government. The report found that there had been a "salmonella epidemic of considerable proportions". However, Chief Medical Officer for England, Donald Acheson had urged at the time that the word "epidemic" should not be used except "in a technical sense".
I guess this story is related to the egg beaters product becoming popular, since it was pasteurized.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-05-15/gecko-in-chicken-egg-...
Gecko in chicken egg may be salmonella breakthrough
The Northern Territory president of the Australian Medical Association says he may have accidentally discovered how the potentially deadly salmonella bacteria gets inside chicken eggs. chook
noun
plural noun: chooks
1.informal•Australian a chicken or fowl.It’s also used in a range of phrases such as “you silly old chook!”
Chook is such an every day usage word in my part of the world..
"Cooked chook" (roast chicken) "silly chook" (silly woman)
etc etc
eggs should be washed just before use and not before, but in the us we wash them before shipping
Which is, in fact, what the US does.
https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/communication/salmonella-and-...
But you're right that the super market displays them on ordinary (not refrigerated) shelves.
You don't actually need to refrigerate eggs in the US if you never eat them raw. I have not refrigerated mine in decades - I buy them, then just leave them on the counter.
Also you can raise them in special trays that remove both the eggs and the waste immediately, reducing how much gets on the egg.
The EU forbids washing to encourage producers not to have salmonella in the first place, the US prevents the salmonella by washing. In practice the EU vaccinates their chickens against salmonella. Around half of US producers do as well.
US food regulations require stronger mitigations against bacterial contamination than most countries pretty consistently. If you look at the long list of foods prohibited for import into the US from Europe, it is almost entirely due to insufficient mitigation of bacterial contamination. This largely revolves around traditional food processing techniques that don’t pass modern food safety standards but which get an exception in Europe for being “traditional”.
Wash your hands with soap and water after handling eggs, poultry, pork, birds, reptiles, or really, just... any time it's convenient. Eat fresh foods. Cook pork and chicken.... enough... and if you don't, just make sure it's fairly fresh and was handled by a reputable source.
https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/index.html
~2% chance of an infection leading to hospitalization sounds pretty bad to me.
> 26,500 hospitalizations, and 420 deaths
There are 33,000 automobile deaths in the US per year.
You're more likely to die on the way to work than be hospitalized due to Salmonella.
If you do end up in the hospital, you are unlikely to die.
I got salmonella in a verified outbreak almost 20 years ago and my digestion has never been quite the same.
edit: i'm getting down voted for saying that i want eggs directly from a small farm