Eating raw eggs...

[geebs]

Contract Salmonella once... that will give you the answer every time.

 

[itsalladream]

Thanks guys. That answers a lot for me. I think I have had food poisoning once before, but it was so severe, and I've never mildly had it, even after some stuff that I've eaten, that I don't think a moderate exposure would bother me too much.

If I wasn't stuffed right now, reading over this would definitely have made me hungry.

 

[ralleia]

I was torturing the members of another online forum with my questions regarding eating raw eggs. One kindly member suggested that I find my way here to the dedicated chicken forum!

We have 40 laying hens that are rapidly burying us alive in eggs. Downing them raw occurred to me as a viable means of consuming some of them. I'm half-Japanese, and have no psychological blocks to raw eggs (dipping sauce for sukiyaki), raw fish (sushi), raw oysters, or raw beef (steak tartare).

According to what I've been able to find, the incidence of salmonella is less than 1 in 30,000 eggs, less in healthy chickens. My goal is to work up to 5 eggs a day. At that rate, given a salmonella egg 1 in 30,000, I could expect approximately 16.5 years to pass between my brushes with the bug.

Also, I've read material which suggests that one only consume the yolk. Too much egg white interferes with biotin absorption. So I save the egg whites in the freezer for my mom to use making angel food cakes and just down the yolks.

Worked my way up to 3 raw yolks a day now and am feeling fine--actually, feeling more fine than when I embarked on this experiment. I want to go in for my way overdue annual physical and get a full-up blood cholesterol (LDL, HDL, triclycerides, the works) before and after a year, just for giggles.

 

[NYREDS]

I suspect the risk of driving to the store to buy eggs is much greater than the risk of eating raw eggs. How many people do you know who've had car accidents? How many people do you know who've had salmonella?

 

[vanilla.exe]

Raw eggs is just at your own risk. I bake constantly and most baked goods require eggs. I nearly always sample the batter (who doesn't eat raw cookie dough?!) before cooking, haven't gotten sick yet. This is with store bought eggs and fresh eggs from my old boss' chickens. Then there are some people that do get sick. Luck of the draw.

 

[crazyhen]

You can have your hens tested for salmonella and feel a bit safer. Just keep things really rodent proof after the test. Gloria Jean