salmonella risks?

[Aimless Farmer]

From what I've read online, this Salmonella outbreak is Salmonella Enteriditis, which means the hen's ovaries are infected. This isn't "unsafe egg handling", as it is the egg contents that are infected. No amount of sterilizing of egg shells would kill it. These are SICK hens, even if not visibly so, though anyone who has seen the inside of a commercial egg factory can join me in a healthy dose of "don't think so" if the egg factory owners/inspectors/workers are going to try to tell us that these hens "appear" to be healthy. Really? Which hens? Daisy & Violet? How long is a hen "visibly sick" before a human being notices and pulls her from the production floor? My guess is when she's sick enough to be die, and even then maybe her Salmonella riddled body just becomes more chicken food.

The conditions in which factory farm animals are raised and housed BREEDS these super bugs. As a previous post advised; whatever the factories are doing in chicken husbandry, DON'T!

I can understand the humanitarian reasons people adopt "retired" egg factory hens, but the health complications of bringing these hens out of the factories into the backyards of families are staggering.

I make the most delicious egg nog every Christmas with a no cook recipe, will eat my own raw cookie dough, and regularly eat runny egg yolks. "That which does not kill me makes me stronger." has some truth. However, I would never eat any of these things from anyone's eggs except my own. Certainly not from factory eggs! I don't even like eating eggs outside of my own. Factory eggs, meat and dairy are not safe, and the government is not doing anything to change that. It's only getting worse.

 

[Gypsi]

I used to make egg-shakes with raw eggs, milk, vanilla and a little sugar, when I was working 3 jobs and 18, that was lunch every day. I've eaten a bit of raw cookie dough or raw cake batter any time I baked for my whole life, and my eggs have been over easy for a comparable time, and until the last year or 2, they were commercial eggs from the grocery store.

I think that the industrial and over-medicated conditions of commercial egg producers (and feedlots for beef, etc) contribute much to the suppressed immune systems and bacterial outbreaks of our time. If we destroy our immune systems capacity to respond due to improper diet, crowding and over-medication both directly and indirectly, we destroy our own health.

I haven't seen Food, Inc., and don't know if I will. I get very angry at how animals are treated. I do eat meat, but not as much as I used to, eggs are as good a protein source and I now have access to healthy eggs from some very happy hens. I have never in my life been to a circus, afraid I'd lose it. Saw a guy using a hook to prod a baby elephant when I was 17, and oh, that was not a good moment....

 

[theFox]

Salmonella enteriditis is usually found on the outside of shell eggs, egg shells are somewhat porous, as the egg ages and under certain handling conditions what is on the outside of the egg can enter the egg.

The organism normally resides in the chickens intestines.

I'll let you figure out how it gets from there to the egg shell and from there where it can end up. A hint, it can get on every surface the egg touches or on whatever touches that surface.

It only takes between 10 and 20 of the bacteria to start an infection, unfortunately normal room to human body temperatures allows rapid growth, which is also speed up with moisture.

Yes it is possible, but not that common, that the salmonella enteritis can get into a chicken ovary and thus start out inside the egg in the yolk.

What kills it is heat 160 degrees Fahrenheit + which is also near the temperature that the egg yolk starts to solidify, thus the egg handling note about cooking until the egg yolk starts to solidify.

Now all of you that want to eat eggs that have runny yolks can do so. If your flock tests Salmonella free (the first part of the test covers all forms of Salmonella, you need to do further testing to determine subtype (there are 2500 or so currently recognized) you will be fine, if the bacteria count you consume is low and your immune system and stomach acid level is normal you'll be fine, folks that take a lot of stomach acid reducers are in an at risk group if the bacteria is present, as are the elderly, and young children.

Everyone gets to choose their poison, this like life in general is a risk.

 

[Aimless Farmer]

From the CDC website:

"Unlike eggborne salmonellosis of past decades, the current epidemic is due to intact and disinfected grade A eggs. Salmonella enteritidis silently infects the ovaries of healthy appearing hens and contaminates the eggs before the shells are formed.
Most types of Salmonella live in the intestinal tracts of animals and birds and are transmitted to humans by contaminated foods of animal origin. Stringent procedures for cleaning and inspecting eggs were implemented in the 1970s and have made salmonellosis caused by external fecal contamination of egg shells extremely rare. However, unlike eggborne salmonellosis of past decades, the current epidemic is due to intact and disinfected grade A eggs. The reason for this is that Salmonella enteritidis silently infects the ovaries of healthy appearing hens and contaminates the eggs before the shells are formed."

 

[write2caroline]

In regard to the Egg Nog Issue: If my Dad's egg nog recipe is similar to the one you refer to where you add raw eggs and egg whites whipped into high peaks. The alcohol content alone would be sure that any bacteria is dead. You just have to be sure you drink it all down! My ancestors were pioneers and traveled west. They also, including the kids, drank whiskey for "medicinal" purposes. Many pioneers did. They shared cups and the whiskey kept them well. Probably also made the kids sleepy too!

I think this "media" blitz is more sensation than reality. Salmonella has been around for a long time. People should handle their food properly and wash hands etc.

But did you notice when "swine flu" was the story of the day the price of pork dropped significantly? I wonder if the store price of chickens will too!

I think people should be informed consumers and know where their food comes from and still wash and handle it properly. That is my humble opinion
Caroline

 

[geebs]

I got Salmonella... Best to avoid it... that is all I have to say on the subject..... official take... YUCK X 100

Wifezilla Once again... you crack me up!!

 

[theFox]

A lot of people have had it and didn't even know it.

Symptoms can range from a headache on up (yep, I said a headache).

The only good thing about Salmonella is it is easy to kill if present.

The bad thing about large institutional situations is that a single misstep can nail a lot of people.

Cook the darn eggs, it is something you have direct control over.

write2caroline, the wife and I took advantage of the price decline on the other white meat, but as of now I haven't seen any evidence of such being the case with chickens.

geebs, I understand it can be a real gut wrencher and PITA depending.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

My eggnog recipe does not call for cooking; nevertheless, I do cook it. But as was commented, the alcohol content of the recipe ought to killl all posible bacteria--even when I halve the amount of alcohol called for!

 

[BWKatz]

Common sense please? Either cook the eggs or pay the consequences.

 

[1/2DozenWings]

Quote:
I like all of your practices! That's great animal husbandry, and very useful!

There is alot of hype, but this type of Salmonella hasn't been seen much prior to the establishment of the big factory "farms" in the 1980's. Similar to E. coli O157:H7 (Jack-in-the-box), it has been 'created' by commercial farming practices.

S. enterica serovar Enteritidis (SE) can indeed populate all of a hen's tissues, including the fallopian tubes and ovaries. Not only that, but this bacteria also appears to inhabit the interior of the egg itself. Bacteria evolve much more quickly than just about anything else on this planet. Commercial operations of White leghorns, all essentially genetically identical, make it so much easier for new strains to develop. Couple that with the addition of antibiotics to the food, and having no access to natural microbes present in the environment: its a clean slate for a more virulent strain to develop--no competition! I will never eat another commercially-produced sunny side-up egg again.