How safe is it to eat raw eggs?
How safe is it to eat raw eggs?
I wanted to try a japanese dish called tamago kake gohan, it's basically raw eggs mixed with rice. The problem is that I'm scared to get salmonella from it. Do you guys think it's safe to eat them? I'm currently living in Brazil. Also, I saw this article telling that the brand I buy my eggs from is exporting to Japan, would this mean they're salmonella-free?
Eggs can be pasteurized- aka heated to kill off bacteria such as salmonella - without cooking them. From a quick Google, in the US and Japan it should be standard to make this dish with such eggs as to be safe to eat. I can't speak to Brazil's food safety standards though- the chances of using pasteurized eggs could be a lot lower, however if it's a Japanese export/import, Japan takes such safety very seriously, so it's likely to be safe.
If you buy eggs preshelled in the US then they are required to be pasteurized - something like this would be good https://vitalfarms.com/pasture-raised-liquid-whole-eggs/
In theory you can pasteurize an egg in its shell, but they aren't very common round here.
Pasteurized eggs are all you really need. It kills most of the germs including most of the salmonella in the egg but their is a slight chance you might still catch it, but the chances of catching it are extremely small with pasteurized eggs.
My suggestion is to crack your pasteurized eggs into a a separate bowl and make sure their is no blood. If their is any blood, either pitch the egg or cook it properly as not to waste it.
Remnants of blood will still contain salmonella. But cooking that egg will kill the salmonella.
I've been making Tamago Kake Gohan for the last month or two now for breakfast and it is extremely good.
well, i was taught the salmonella is on the shell (mainly). so this would be no good advice. i don't know anything about pasteurized eggs, though. nor north or south american eggs.
Unfortunately those aren't common where I live. Even if I could find some on a local store it would probably be way too expensive.
Last time I researched this, I came to the following conclusions:
- Salmonella lives on/in the hard shell part of an egg (not penetrating it) so unless you consume the shell, you should be fine
- If an egg has a lion stamp on it (UK only I think) it means that the farm it came from is certified not to have salmonella
- I ate raw eggs (including shell) on many occasion (not really a party trick but I like to shock people every now and then :D) and never have I ever encountered any unpleasantries because of this (apart from them tasking like runny boogers).
Number 1 is wrong. Salmonellae primarily live on the shell, but they possibly propagate to everything that touches the shell, including obviously the inner part of the egg.
Number 2 is good to know: The lion stamp eggs are from chicken that have been vaccinated against the most common salmonella infections. There is no 100% guarantee that it is effective, but together with hygienic measures and regular controls, they can be seen as virtually salmonella-free. Worth noting that vaccination is a requirement in many countries (e.g. Germany), and EU-wide for big farms.
Depends entirely on how old the eggs are and how they've been treated. Fresh eggs laid today are very safe, they have a shell for a reason. Salmonella don't just magically appear in eggs or chicken would have a hard time procreating. Refrigerated eggs are also probably safe to consume for quite a while although you can't always be sure whether they were continuously refrigerated. Washed eggs however should be considered unsafe because washing them destroys the protective seal the shells provide. So you'll need to find out what has happened to those eggs between the chicken laying them and you buying them.
so if I could work out the logistics of farming chickens, I can crack cleaned eggs into my mouth?
For sure. I have a micro homestead with a lot of chickens (dozens upon dozens lol) - we raise them for eggs, meat, and the manure (which we use to make awesome soil for the garden). We keep the coop extremely clean (like multiple times a month we clean it out), and we keep our chickens healthy (constantly treating for parasites, mites, worms, etc) so they live a happy healthy life.
Those eggs come out clean in the nests because we keep them clean as well. I personally would probably rinse it off right before cracking open just because it's me, but yeah there's no salmonella in our coop because we maintain sanitary conditions (probably way more than the average backyard chicken owner).
If you can make sure they're fresh and the seal hasn't been compromised, I don't see why not.
I think that when it comes to food safety, you should definitely just ask random people on the internet...
Information about the topic for the country I live is scarce, searching in english for more results would not help. Queries in portuguese just return the obvious "yes, there is a risk", and of course the egg brand won't say anything about it other than "there's a risk" otherwise they would get sued if someone got sick. That's why I'm asking on Lemmy, to get opinion from real people othen than the obvious stuff.
As long as the eggs are store-bought you should be fine (do not use caipira chicken eggs). Otherwise Paraná would be a desert, given how often we prepare mayo with raw yolks here.
tamago kake gohan, it’s basically raw eggs mixed with rice
Haha, that's literally all it is. As someone who's eaten it many times, don't get your hopes up. It's the "I've just woken up after drinking last night and only sleeping 4 hours but I gotta go to work and I can't be fucking bothered to cook" breakfast.
Its rare to cause any problem. You can eat it without fear.
People eat raw eggs all the time. Have you ever done mayonaise or chocolate mousse ? it's made of raw-eggs. In most of the first world, salmonella isn't an issue, there is strict food safety norm making sure any salmonella case would be caught quickly before eggs/meat make it into the store.
Chega de frescura e come o ovo de uma vez
Realmente, mas assim, n iria me contaminar com salmonela só pq sim. Se tivesse um risco grande seria mais fácil simplesmente não comer
Quem vive com medo de tudo não vive, cara
Tá coçando pra tentar algo, então bota pra quebrar, não fica nessa enrolação
Tenho certeza que você não fica pensando no risco toda vez que entra num carro; apenas o risco de se machucar é bem maior
Vou escrever em inglês porque esse tipo de info é bom de compartilhar.
The risk is fairly small. Like, considerably smaller than eating a street hot dog. But if you're still worried about salmonella, you can pasteurise the eggs at home, it's really annoying (the egg is safe at 59°C, but it starts cooking at 65°C, so the temp margin is fairly small).
If willing to do it, you'll need a large pot, a thermometer, and ideally a thermal bag.
- Fill the pot with water. Heat it until the water goes beyond 59°C. Around 70°C should be fine.
- Transfer the pot with water to the thermal bag. Let it cool back until the water is around 62°C. (Overheating it and letting it cool is a bit more foolproof than trying to reach the exact temperature right off the bat.)
- Place the eggs in the water. Close the pot and the thermal bag. Forget about it for 15min.
Using a larger pot is recommended because more water = more thermal mass = more constant temperature.
Melhor resposta.
Do you use to eat your eggs sunny-side-up? (With the yellow still liquid?) If so, you should be safe. Or you've been lucky, I have no clue as to the prevalence of Salmonella in Brazil.
Other people are right, that there are ways to reduce the risk of contracting salmonella. However, I'd point out it's highly unlikely you'd get salmonella from eating raw eggs once. If you wanted to eat them regularly then that's a different story