recalls

Today is Friday and its been a while since I've done a Food Friday post, so I thought I would. I'm going to try to make a Food Friday post more often. My goal is every Friday, but I'm not going to promise anything.

Today's Food Friday post is about eggs and salmonella. With the recall on eggs from Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa which effects eggs from all over the US, I thought I'd talk a little about this nasty disease and how we can protect ourselves.

First, I think that fears need to be set aside. This recall effects a small percentage of the eggs being produced. You should check your eggs, but this recall effects less than 1% of eggs. Still, 1 in a hundred... If you eat a lot of eggs, that's a good chance... There are ways to protect yourself. I'll talk about the two best ways to protect against salmonella in eggs: raising your own and cooking the egg well.

The best way to avoid issues with bird diseases is to grow your own. If you have a small flock of chickens you have limited the possibility of getting any diseases. Think about human disease. Where do we have the highest percentage of diseases per human, in crowded cities or in rural communities? People in cities, especially schools, hospitals, community centers and malls where people are all packed in with poor circulation have much higher chances if getting sick. The same is true for animals. If they live in a crowded facility, crammed in there with a bunch of other birds they are going to have a much higher chance of being sick than if they live in a yard with just a couple of other ladies.

If you can't have, or don't want to care for a backyard flock, then you should cook your eggs through. Your whites should be solid at the very least. Really the yolk should be cooked through too. I'm not a fan of hard cooked yolks, so I scramble my eggs when I have to buy them from the store. Of course, the chances of getting salmonella from eggs is slim, but do you really want to take the chance?

Refrigerating store bought eggs is very important, but if you have your own flock it is less important. Eggs left outside can last weeks. Many people harvest their eggs only every few days, or once a week. Store bought eggs have probably been cleaned though. Cleaning eggs takes off some of the protective membrane. Also, store bought eggs might be a couple weeks old before they reach your store. Keeping them in the fridge is best to protect them. I also refrigerate my yard eggs, but if I find some laying around, I don't worry too much about them being bad. Float test them if you are unsure. (bad eggs don't float in water)