What chickens making better tasting eggs may look like:





They might run a slightly smaller risk of disease, but they run a much higher risk of better flavor:

optikeye: Here's a vid of harvesting chickens in a modern farm. (new window)
And I'm a bad person for laughing at it.

Here now you don't have to feel guilty about it..

Link (new window)

Naman: Relatively Obscure: Who knew eating raw or undercooked eggs was dangerous? No one on the planet has ever heard that there were risks involved in eating raw or undercooked eggs. Not ever.

That's great, except for the fact that what makes the danger more than negligible is the fact that large-scale egg producers usually keep their chickens in filthy, cramped conditions where salmonella spreads rampantly.

In order to get salmonella from eggs, it has to spread to the chickens that lay the eggs. Healthy chickens produce safe eggs.

Not true. Healthy chickens produce safer eggs, but bacteria are still able to grow and thrive due to fecal matter in nests, small imperfections in the eggs, incomplete blooms, etc...


Edipis: just like with beef, i'm not sure what the point of eating egg that has been cooked to rubber quite is.

To the contrary, steak is quite safe to eat when seared on the outside. It's not factory farming that contaminates steak, it's the butcher's knives used to carve those steaks which spread bacteria (assuming the cow was healthy, and if it wasn't you would be able to tell by simply looking at the cut). Ground beef on the other hand is stupid to eat any way other than raw because there really is no way to tell if an unhealthy cow was used along with 150 other healthy ones.


I agree the farming practices in the US are rather grotesque, but even if farms were a sterile environment, you're still dealing with biological samples and should take the proper precautions (i.e. cook your damn food).

stuhayes2010: What chickens making better tasting eggs may look like:

Going that route en masse is going to have to result in some shortages.

You are right though. I have a few friends who raise chickens, and the eggs are damned tasty.

doglover: Raw eggs are not only common, but expected in a LOT of dishes here. So, Japanese eggs are pretty much 100% safe raw. I think they pasteurize all of them, but the how is not the important thing, it's the fact that no one's even heard of salmonela from chicken eggs here.

So yeah, the american egg recall is a load of horse apples. Should never have been allowed to happen. I fire the highest guy on the chain, give his job to me, and force All Executives to eat random raw eggs 3-6 times per day at work. Not some, not factory workers, but all the higher ups. Make it mandatory and documented who ate what eggs. If an executive gets sick, there's going to be changes a lot quicker than if a customer does.

Word. I was gonna post something similar. Thanks for saving me the time. It's really amazing what happens when you care about your job and your product.

mamoru: You can keep me from eating raw eggs when you pry my Japanese beef bowl (gyuu-don) from my cold, dead hands.

/never had salmonella
//raw egg with a dash of soy sauce over gyuu-don is hella delicious :D

So much 'this' and don't even get me started on the pure awesomeness that is Sukiyaki.

CraicBaby: It can get on the outer surface of the meat, but it is impossible for the bacteria to get inside the muscle.

Isn't this only true if the meat has been handled 100% safely, I have read that if a butcher or meat processor handling the steak at some point accidentally pierces it it could introduce contamination, that a surface sear would not get.

Fast Food Nation had a whole section about how the assembly line style of meat packing introduced this type of risk when the packers had to run the line too fast.

What next, we are expected to cook chicken thoroughly?

I cook mine in a 163.8°F water bath for 20 minutes, using a Sous-Vide Supreme

Used to be you wouldn't get salmonella poisoning even without the pasteurization.

The salmonella eggs aren't really dangerous if you cook them right and some of them aren't even infectious. I ate my whole egg dozen before realizing they were part of the recall. I ate about four of them basted and the rest scrambled and didn't get salmonella.

I am also overly cautious about salmonella potential because I had salmonella as a kid and almost died because of it (not exaggerating, doctor told my parents to call a priest as he thought I wouldn't live through the night). Salmonella is the most horrible disease I ever had and wish to not get it again. So, yes I think all chickens should be vaccinated against it. I'm will to pay .05 extra per egg to keep the risk of salmonella down to zip.

Now, on the flip side, consumers SHOULD be aware that undercooked food can hurt them. We recently had a case of food poisoning get tossed out of court because the guy order his steak raw from a local steakhouse and got sick because of it. He sued them saying they served him undercooked meat and the steakhouse says "Well, you asked for it raw. We warned you and you went ahead, so we seared it and brought it out. It was your own fault for eating it." The judge agreed.

Though since I started this P90X diet thing I have to eat around 2 dozen eggs a week. I might switch over to the health food store eggs as a precaution (and they are tasty).

I ain't no science guy, but if I pour enough whiskey and rum in my eggnog, then I'll be safe. Right?

snocone: Gamma irradiation of produce, eggs, chicken, beef and the like extend the shelf life far beyond where the food industry can make maximum profit.

It also prevents food poisoning.

And kills nanites.

robmilmel: Broken9754: "wave of diarrhea."

I prefer "Outpouring of Diarrhea".

I'm fond of "Diarrhea Explosion".

gojirast: robmilmel: Broken9754: "wave of diarrhea."

I prefer "Outpouring of Diarrhea".

I'm fond of "Diarrhea Explosion".

/Projectile diarrhea.

Not everything is black and white. There is a risk with eating undercooked eggs, but a consumer should be able to reasonably expect that there is not widespread salmonella contamination of eggs.

I swear some of the people on here would blame the consumer completely if he got sick from eating a medium rare steak, after the butcher secretly marinated it in salmonella extract.

Son of a biatch! I thought the egg only had a risk of having salmonella on the shell. I've always treated them as having such. Now they tell me I can't have my eggs over easy?! Fark you industry! This will come back to haunt you!

I like my eggs scrambled, with the bottom slightly pan-singed. It adds a unique texture and flavor. I love to couple this with a steak that is well-done; crispy bacon and/or a bratwurst to the side makes for a hell of a breakfast or dinner.


Time to raid the freezer.

Abstruse: Or we could, you know, vaccinate the chickens against salmonella like they did in England which pretty much ended the issue. But that would make the cost of eggs go up a nickel a dozen and would piss off hippies crazed "government is always bad" bootstrappy right-wing lunatics...

FTFY.

Local Pasture raised eggs never have this issue because the chickens go outdoors and aren't crapping on one another.

Or we could, you know, start supporting and purchasing eggs from pasture raised chickens, where they're not cramped up together in small spaces stewing in their own filth. But that would mean a dozen eggs would be $1.50 more, and that's just unacceptable to most consumers who always take price and perceived value over quality.

Relatively Obscure: Abstruse: Or we could, you know, vaccinate the chickens against salmonella like they did in England which pretty much ended the issue. But that would make the cost of eggs go up a nickel a dozen and would piss off hippies...

I'd pay the nickel just to piss off the hippies alone.

I'm with you on this one!

Cotton Rinkenbolts: Or we could, you know, start supporting and purchasing eggs from pasture raised chickens, where they're not cramped up together in small spaces stewing in their own filth. But that would mean a dozen eggs would be $1.50 more, and that's just unacceptable to most consumers who always take price and perceived value over quality.

Go right ahead. It sounds like a self-correcting problem.

slothMD: Cotton Rinkenbolts: Or we could, you know, start supporting and purchasing eggs from pasture raised chickens, where they're not cramped up together in small spaces stewing in their own filth. But that would mean a dozen eggs would be $1.50 more, and that's just unacceptable to most consumers who always take price and perceived value over quality.

Go right ahead. It sounds like a self-correcting problem.

Hrm, vaccinated eggs ...5 cents more, free range eggs, $1.50 more. Lets do both and let the market sort it out :)

lordargent: can't eat eggs unless every last trace of moisture has been eliminated. It is not a bacteria thing, I just can not stand the texture of runny eggs.

then what the hell are you supposed to do with the toast?

sunny-side up yolk + buttered toast == heaven for breakfast
/when you can't have eggs benedict, that is...

I scanned the forum and am not sure if someone else made this observation.

Human's bodies developed defenses against this type of contamination. For eternity, people have been eating raw/rare meat (e-coli), raw/rare fowl (salmonella), and other bad stuff. Our bodies typically didn't have huge issues with it. Usually the biggest issue was an upset stomach - which could have been attributed to almost anything.

Now look at today. We have rampant food allergies that are unprecedented in history. Peanut allergies are so common that many elementary schools have banned peanut butter in the lunchrooms. Since the 50's, we have had large increases in allergies to our environment and increases in asthma. There are some pretty strong theories that a lot of this is attributed to our immune systems having nothing to fight, so it goes looking for anything it can - including common particles like food proteins (peanuts or eggs).

This level of pathogen contamination might have actually been common prior to 1950 or so, but our bodies might have been better able to cope and it wasn't a big deal.

Tonka Truck: I scanned the forum and am not sure if someone else made this observation.

Human's bodies developed defenses against this type of contamination. For eternity, people have been eating raw/rare meat (e-coli), raw/rare fowl (salmonella), and other bad stuff. Our bodies typically didn't have huge issues with it. Usually the biggest issue was an upset stomach - which could have been attributed to almost anything.

Now look at today. We have rampant food allergies that are unprecedented in history. Peanut allergies are so common that many elementary schools have banned peanut butter in the lunchrooms. Since the 50's, we have had large increases in allergies to our environment and increases in asthma. There are some pretty strong theories that a lot of this is attributed to our immune systems having nothing to fight, so it goes looking for anything it can - including common particles like food proteins (peanuts or eggs).

This level of pathogen contamination might have actually been common prior to 1950 or so, but our bodies might have been better able to cope and it wasn't a big deal.

Your logical approach will no doubt be dismissed, but I certainly appreciate it.

charro: But this "voluntary" recall means that the amount of salmonella was exceedingly high and these farms must be incredibly nasty dumps.

Possibly so, but there are other considerations.

We currently live in a society that expects 100% safety in all situations - and never through any fault of our own. This was a large amount of people that were exposed, but look at the volume of eggs. Almost half a billion eggs are being recalled. How many were actually consumed? Out of that, about 1300 people got sick (according to the CDC, about 2000 cases for this period - and usually they receive about 700 for the same rage). Not to marginalize the situation, but the sheer volume shows that all it takes is one contamination outbreak and it escalates pretty quick. Who knows - maybe this was an egg farm that was trashy all along and just lucked out, or maybe they had a single massive contamination event that happened suddenly.

It's never zero risk, but given that the egg factories weren't following basic sanitation guidelines combined with the Egg Boards rejection of any kind of vaccination program for the hens like they have in Britain... the reality is they were playing fast and loose with the food chain safety the whole time and they just don't want to take responsibility for it.

anarchy_x: Relatively Obscure: Abstruse: Or we could, you know, vaccinate the chickens against salmonella like they did in England which pretty much ended the issue. But that would make the cost of eggs go up a nickel a dozen and would piss off hippies...

I'd pay the nickel just to piss off the hippies alone.

I'm with you on this one!

No, you can't do this, and not because of the 5c increase, but rather because it'll bring all the anti-vaccination loonies out of the closet. You know, the people who simultaneously want their animal products "natural, organic, hormone free" and so forth, but who then biatch and moan when there's a salmonella outbreak - something that could be fixed with a simple vaccine.

Head asplode at the idiocy of the mindless masses.

Don't get me started about rBGH.

You know, sometimes I really think the entire world should go "organic", "hormone-free", "vaccine-free", "frankenfood-free", etc., because, without those treatments, we wouldn't be able to feed anywhere near the number we do now. About half the world would finally die off in the next 20 years, including probably a significant number in the USA, and life would just be so much better.

Traditionally, lime juice "cooks" the eggs in Key Lime Pie. Since the scare, I cook the custard before adding the lime juice. I didn't notice any decline in taste.

So, for the 2 of you out there who also make Key Lime Pie, cook the custard and don't worry.

yakmans_dad: Traditionally, lime juice "cooks" the eggs in Key Lime Pie. Since the scare, I cook the custard before adding the lime juice. I didn't notice any decline in taste.

So, for the 2 of you out there who also make Key Lime Pie, cook the custard and don't worry.

Not strictly true - it's the same story with ceviche. Most recipes don't use nearly enough acid to denature fully - which is sorta the point, because if you do use enough, it turns the eggs/fish tough.

But yeah, cooking the custard first, if done smoothly and slowly, will still give an awesome result. It's just when people rush it that it turns to paste / grains / etc.

CraicBaby: This is why hamburger needs to be cooked all the way through, and any restaurant that serves burgers that are pink inside is disgusting and has no regard for food safety.

/husband is a butcher

Or maybe they grind their own meat from STEAKS while not around shiat. This is what I do (and why I always ask if they grind their own meat before ordering a burger when out). If you're going to eat it well done, why even bother with beef?

For my money, nothing goes better with raw egg than some pork tartar and a glass of raw milk.

\nom nom nom

cyber_slacker: For my money, nothing goes better with raw egg than some pork tartar and a glass of raw milk.

\nom nom nom

For dessert I like to lick my co-workers' keyboards.

Poowaddins: Given that I produce farm fresh, cage-free eggs for sale at local farm stands and health food stores, I'm really getting a kick...

You could have at least specified the general geographical area where you're doing this... That's on my list of things to find. Right next to supply of grass-fed beef.

The idiots in this thread prove themselves.
Ceasar salad uses hardboiled eggs. No salmonella risk.

I heard about this in the news, and we eat eggs on a regular basis. All I thought was "Oh, good thing I eat my eggs scrambled."

Vaccinate the damned chickens, since that's been shown to work, and it would be a lower risk than it already is.

Nakarti: The idiots in this thread prove themselves.
Ceasar salad uses hardboiled eggs. No salmonella risk.

The traditional Caesar salad recipe calls for raw or coddled eggs. Just so you know.

\Ever notice that the people who like to call other people idiots are more often wrong than the general populace?

Nakarti: The idiots in this thread prove themselves.
Ceasar salad uses hardboiled eggs. No salmonella risk.

Yes, yes you do.

Nakarti: The idiots in this thread prove themselves.
Ceasar salad uses hardboiled eggs. No salmonella risk.

I heard about this in the news, and we eat eggs on a regular basis. All I thought was "Oh, good thing I eat my eggs scrambled."

Vaccinate the damned chickens, since that's been shown to work, and it would be a lower risk than it already is.

Well, except for the dressing. But you sound like someone who gets creamy caesar-style dressing from the bottle. I take it you have never made any food from scratch.

GAT_00 (favorite) 2010-08-29 07:57:08 PM Yeah, it kinda is. But that also assumes that the farms were following basic health and safety guidelines, which really doesn't seem to be the case. But hey, let's just toss all regulation. You die, it's your fault.
======================================================

Sorry, but if you get sick from undercooking your food, you deserve to get sick.

Don't eat eggs (or steak or anything else) un or under cooked. It's freaking stupid and you're doing nothing but tempting fate everytime you do it.

There may still be that chance even if fully cooked, I assume, so there's still reason to crack down. But, generally, if you get sick... it's your own damn fault.

your idea of undercooked might be my idea of overcooked.

I just started getting fresh eggs from 3 hens in my back yard coop. I get 2-3 eggs a day and they are delicious. Once you've constructed the coup it is really very little work.

TommyymmoT: In New Jersey, it's illegal (since 1992) for restaurants to serve soft boiled eggs, or eggs over easy (new window)

But is it still legal for a diner to serve a cigarette butt in your hash browns?

/happened to me in Joisey