Question about Salmonella in eggs

[lizard7]

This is a question that has been bugging me for years. When they talk about salmonella risk in eating eggs, in peticular raw eggs, I a perplexed at how could the inside of an egg be contaminated. Wouldn't it be the outside of the shell thats germy? And wouldn't washing the egg before cracking be a/the solution? I don't worry about it anymore now that I am raising chickens. Am I wrong to think this?

 

[KellyHM]

Since the shell is porous it is possible for the bacteria to get inside b/c they are small enough to go through. Also, certain types of Salmonella (Pullorum for example) are trapped in the egg when it is formed in the hen...which is why it's transmitted from hen to chicks. As long as you cook your eggs good there's nothing to worry about.

 

[lizard7]

Thanks for clearing that one up!

 

[Teach97]

Or have a healthy immune system! Or drink lots of adult beverages! Or you are just so nasty that germs are afraid of catching something from me...I mean you...

I hate finals!!! I have to be quiet.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Wow! Seriously, that's scary. Thanks for the warning. I've had food poisoning before. I see that it could have (small possibility though) been from eggs, especially at my grandmother's.

 

[horsejody]

I had salmonella once as a kid. We raised chickens and then stopped for a while. When we didn't have our own hens, Dad bought eggs from a big factory type farm. He picked them up right there so they would be fresher than from the store. I got salmonella from them. We got our own hens again and never had that problem again. I think the factory farm hens aren't as healthy to begin with, and then they make it worse by over washing the eggs and removing the protective bloom.

 

[Teach97]

That is actually very correct...eggs have a natural layer of protection that gets scrubbed off at the factory...they do this to remove the poop and other debris on them...home raised ones usually don't get the same cleaning so the danger comes from some poop (bacteria) left on the shell...catch-22 thing

 

[krcote]

I eat my girls' eggs over-easy every day and I'm not dead yet. There is usually some poo on them, I just resist the urge to wash them until right before I use them, to protect the bloom.

 

[English Chick]

In the UK if you are selling your eggs to the public and have more than a certain amount they HAVE to be immunised lots of stuff including salmonella, and they are not allowed to run with "Roos"

ps I only sell they eggs from my rescued battery hens.....they had the jabs as chicks..its the law.