Thursday, August 19, 2010

Eggs anyone?


I happened to pick up a dozen eggs last week only to find out that they were on the recall list. Some 380 million eggs! Finding out that they're not safe to eat after you've already eaten eight of them is not heartening news. I'm usually up on my recalls but this one seemed to come late. I think I'll hard boil the rest of them just to be safe. Or should I live dangerously and cook them over easy? In the last three years there's been recall after recall and it seems to be getting worse. There was fish, chicken, ground beef, beef with mad cow, tomatoes, peppers, spinach, salads and peanuts. Not to mention underprocessed canned foods like chili, spaghettos, and cereals. I know you must assume meats can be loaded with e-coli or salmonella and cook them properly but there isn't much you can do about veggies. So like that wonderful Russian game we take a gamble and eat dinner and hope it wasn't on the recall list. Only had food poisoning once as a kid from some bad milk that was undetectable.

You can go to the CDC website to see which ones are bad.

7 comments:

S.W. Anderson said...

Frying the eggs should kill the bacteria, but I would wash them with soap and water before cracking the shells.

Boiling should be all right, but I'm not sure. Packs of surgical instruments to be sterilized are placed in an autoclave where they are subjected to steam under pressure for a specified period, something like 40 minutes. That ensures all bugs are killed. Anything less is considered too risky. So, I have to wonder if four or five minutes in boiling water is really sufficient to kill salmonella.

The Blog Fodder said...

When it comes to eggs and chickens, Salmonella goes with the territory. Why the sudden panic, I don't know.

Caesar Salad dressing is made with raw eggs. Mom always said don't eat raw cookie dough (because it has raw eggs?). Now they put it in ice cream.

Make mine over easy and a rasher of bacon on the side please. Don't worry about it.

Kitchen cleanliness is critical when you work with eggs, though. Wash up counters and cutting boards and hands.

My late wife, Ella, one time long ago came up with the world's worst franchise: Sam 'n Ella's Restaurant.

Mauigirl said...

We've been buying all our eggs from a family farm in the Adirondacks for the past year or so, so no worries for us. And boy, are they better than regular grocery store eggs!

Am adding you to my blogroll, I see we have many mutual blogger friends!

Randal Graves said...

See, this is why we need global thermonuclear war. Once we all survive the exchange, irradiated beyond all sensible limits, what's a little salmonella between friends?

Tom Harper said...

On your list of hazardous foods, you forgot to mention alfalfa sprouts and organic fruit juice.

So far I haven't heard of french fries causing any food poisoning. A shake and a large order of fries please.

Tim said...

Sounds like a bad movie, killer eggs from Planet Yolk. I hope you saw the movie Pink Flamingos. There's a scene in there that's perfect for the occasion. The Egg Lady....
I'm sure Graves seen the movie..;)

S.W. Anderson said...

Blog Fodder wrote: "Caesar Salad dressing is made with raw eggs."

Not anywhere I know of. This might've been done a long time ago, but I can't imagine it's being done now. For the very fact you mention, that salmonella is common on chickens and their eggs.