Massive Egg Recall and Salmonella

[Kristofor]

Cooking the food properly. Heat destroys the bateria. But for the life of me, how does one eat RAW eggs?!

Some folks like sunny-side-up eggs, or other runny egg food. Not my favorite. Some folks like their french toast extra eggy and/or less well done which could leave some egg that had not been heated enough to kill the bacteria. There are lots of possibilities other than cracking open an egg and eating it raw (which some folks do as well...)

But, you don't have to eat the egg raw if the outside is contaminated. Simply having the eggs on a surface or touching them can allow you to spread it to other food/areas...

I've read that the risk of getting a salmonella tainted egg in a salmonella endemic area is 1 in 10,000. Infection almost always occurs from food service areas where the eggs were stored in a relative warm spot in the cooler.

I've heard that food service was a common link in many outbreaks, but I assumed it was because they might have recipes that involved using 10-1000+ eggs (or 200lbs of beef, etc.) per batch all mixed together, then feeding that food to dozens/hundreds/thousands of people. A 1/10,000 infection rate could turn into 1/10 if you're using 1,000 eggs per batch. Food safety may not be the number one priority of the low-wage/low-training staff in some food service jobs as well.

[gordons]

As long as the don't recall my "Big Green Egg", I'm OK.

Can't say that I'm partial to eating half-formed chickens anyway, so don't miss them.