[Booooze]

hey guys.

How do you remove salmonella from eggs? the only way i know of is to heat them in a frying pan or oven or something. Would a microwave work? Are there any fast or easier ways?

thanks.

[phatch]

You can buy pasteurized eggs. From the USDA/FDA site:

Shell eggs can be pasteurized by a processor if FDA approves the process. Pasteurized shell eggs are available in some parts of the country, but are not yet available nationwide. Also, the equipment necessary to pasteurize eggs isn’t available for home use, and it’s not possible to pasteurize eggs in the home.

The egg "product" in a carton are pastuerized, the dried egg products are pasteurized.

Phil

[phatch]

http://www.safeeggs.com/how_we_do_it/index.html has a javascript link that opens window with a series of pictures showing how they pasteurize the eggs.

The summary is a warm water bath with regulated temperature and time based on the size of the egg.

Just as with boiled eggs, the protective membrane on the outside of the egg is destroyed in this process so the egg is coated with wax to prevent contamination/infection after the pasteurization process.

The eggs are stamped with a circle P to show they are pasteurized eggs.

The details of the times and temperatures aren't given, but I'm sure they're available in the patent literature.

Phil

[Pete]

As far as I am aware, microwaves are not suggested for use in trying to kill bacteria and other food borne pathogens. The issue is that microwaves tend to heat very unevenly, at least the home versions and those used in most restaurants. The best way to kill the bacteria is by cooking to an internal temp that the USDA suggests, which means boiling the eggs until they are hardboiled or cooking them all the way through, to a temp of 160 degrees, until both the whites and yolks are firm. Unless you buy pasterized eggs there is no guarantee that an egg will not contain salmonella though statistics state that only about 1 in 20,000 eggs contains samonella. You can keep the salmonella levels low though by buying from a reputable dealer and following safe handling practices. There are numerous websites devoted to egg safety that you can look up to see what those pracitces are.

[Mikeb]

The odds of an egg containing salmonella are next to none, especially if you buy from a reputable source. I wouldn't worry about it (I use unpasteurized eggs for mayonnaise, cook them runny, etc...), but you can buy pasteurized egg products if you're really that worried.

[Booooze]

o cool. didn't know that. Thanks alot, great posts. sorry for the late reply.

[BearBoxer]

And remeber.......the majority of Salmonella located on/in eggs is located on the shell itself (the exterior). It's one reason I hate to see cooks drain cooked bacon on empty cardboard egg nests.

[Kerryclan]

I stopped using raw egg in my ceasar dressing for fear of salmonella. Then I heard that if you coddle them, it's O.K., but I wasn't sure about that. Then I hard boiled them and pulverized, but lost some texture and flavor.

Thanks for a truly informative thread that gave me an acceptable alternative.