MIXED MESSAGES ON EGG SAFETY

The American Egg Board runs a website called "The Incredible Egg" (http://www.incredibleegg.org/). Generally speaking, it's a useful site for education of the public with basic facts and recipes using eggs. It also has a section on egg safety. But the egg safety message is contradictory.

Here's what the advice on the site says:

"Making Sure Your Eggs Are Safe to Eat
Eggs should be cooked until the whites and yolks are firm or, for dishes containing eggs, until an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit is reached because Salmonella is destroyed by the heat of cooking."

This advice agrees with the advice given by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration - the two key U.S. agencies involved in regulation of eggs.

Now look at some of the illustrations of eggs from the website (and these are just some of them). Are these eggs really "well-cooked?"

And if you look at some of the recipes, you'll see that these expressly suggest that you keep the yolks from becoming firm. That goes against USDA and FDA advice. Since research has shown that Salmonella bacteria (the most common ones in whole fresh eggs) can turn up in both the yolk and the white (albumin) of the egg, they suggest you be safe and make sure both are cooked until they are no longer runny. That is, as the Egg Board itself says: "until the whites and yolks are firm."

Alright - well-cooked eggs aren't as photogenic, but the American Egg Board needs to put out a consistent message to consumers on egg safety.

To your good health,

TSF