Egg Concerns Incubate

Can we do without our cookie dough?

Apparently not.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, more than a third of all Americans regularly eat undercooked or raw eggs--in large part in homemade cookie dough.

People seem less concerned about eating undercooked eggs than other meat products such as ground beef and chicken. This attitude frustrates food safety regulators, who say raw eggs carry bacteria that can cause illness and even death.

“People’s risk perceptions of eating raw eggs are that they are less risky than eating other raw foods, when they’re not,” said Alan Levy, a chief of consumer studies with the FDA. “One of the biggest discrepancies is between the actual and perceived risks of eating raw eggs.”

Indeed, an FDA survey completed last year found that eggs continue to be the most undercooked foods eaten by Americans, followed by hamburger and raw shellfish. Americans eat an average of 234 eggs each per year.

While most of those servings are well-cooked, officials said it’s common for people to eat runny eggs at breakfast or sample that cookie dough before baking. Raw or undercooked eggs are commonly found in egg-infused protein shakes and thick-cut French toast. Sometimes, raw eggs are used in more traditional recipes for such foods as Caesar salad, mayonnaise, Hollandaise sauce, egg nog and some mousses.

Raw eggs are among the most common source of salmonella infections. Salmonella is typically found in one of every 20,000 eggs and causes an intestinal infection accompanied by diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps.

In 1996, the most recent year for which information is available, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta reported about 39,000 cases of salmonella. It estimates there are 800,000 to 4 million actual cases annually.

“People consider eggs to be less risky, probably because it used to be true,” Levy said. “Eggs were sterile. It’s only been in the last 10 to 15 years that new bacteria get inside the egg.”

From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, egg-linked salmonella went from making up 6% of all salmonella cases to 23%, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control. Last month, a pancake restaurant in Richmond, Va. was closed after 92 people contracted salmonella from eating eggs there.

But many chefs and food industry experts say such cases are extremely rare, and stress that the risk of getting sick from eggs cooked at restaurants is slight.

“The thing is, a lot of people overreact and panic,” said chef John Rodrigues, a teacher at the Orange County School of Culinary Arts in Fullerton. The outbreaks are “over-publicized in the news. Chefs have been doing the same preparations for 300 to 400 years. As long as you can assure customers that everyone is doing everything properly, it’s fine.”

Rodrigues said that as long as eggs are handled properly--stored in sufficiently cooled refrigerators and not left outside after they’ve been broken and pooled with other raw eggs--the dangers are minimal.

“As long as they don’t sit around, and the eggs are coming out of the refrigerator, there’s not much to worry about,” he said.

California has enacted a series of major food safety laws in the last few years. One law specifies that any dishes containing eggs be cooked to at least 160 degrees to eliminate the risk of salmonella. Another law, passed in the last year, calls for the manager of each restaurant to undergo food preparation and safety training.

The Department of Health Services has been touring the state, training restaurateurs on the new laws and safety procedures. California’s laws are less strict than those adopted by several other states.

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Get Crackin’ -- Safely

COOKING EGGS

* Choose only Grade A or AA eggs with clean, uncracked shells from a refrigerated unit. Never buy eggs that have been kept at room temperature because any bacteria present in the eggs can grow rapidly if they’re not kept cold.

* Always check the date on the carton to make sure it hasn’t passed.

* Put the eggs into your refrigerator as quickly as possible.

* Place eggs in their original cartons in the colder section of the refrigerator at about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. They can keep safely three to five weeks from the date of purchase, not from the date on the carton.

Handling Eggs

* Wash hands, utensils, equipment and work areas with hot, soapy water before and after contact with raw eggs or raw egg-rich foods.

* Avoid keeping eggs out of the refrigerator for more than two hours. (Some baking recipes call for room-temperature eggs because, when they are beaten, they tend to have greater volume than chilled eggs. This whipping can be done within the two-hour limitation.)

* Serve cooked egg dishes immediately after cooking or refrigerate for later use.

Everyday Eggs

* According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, unless an egg is cooked thoroughly, there’s no guarantee of safety.

* In cooked eggs, both yolks and whites should be firm. This caution is especially important for people most at risk for food-borne illness--the elderly, the very young, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems.

* Cook fried eggs two to three minutes on each side or in a covered pan for four minutes. Scrambled eggs should be firm throughout. Poach eggs in boiling water for five minutes or boil them in the shell for seven minutes.

Source: The Michigan Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.