Be careful! Eating raw eggs can be fatal! Be careful when choosing →

In recent years, raw eggs have become one of the hottest foods. Especially under the brainwashing of some brand advertisements, the concept of raw eggs has become more deeply rooted in people's minds.

Many of my friends have developed the habit of eating raw eggs. One of my friends who loves raw eggs the most has a cup of raw eggs almost every day. Yes, one cup. He will beat the raw eggs directly into the cup and drink it like a beverage. It is said that the taste is slightly sweet and very delicious.

So, how are these edible eggs produced? What is the difference between them and ordinary eggs?

01

Ordinary raw eggs are not only not eaten raw

Soft-boiled eggs are not recommended.

Ordinary raw eggs may transmit Salmonella or Listeria. Whether they are eaten raw or half-cooked, these bacteria cannot be completely killed. Once they enter the human body, they will cause vomiting and diarrhea.

In China, 70% to 80% of bacterial food poisoning is caused by salmonella. Once infected, even people with strong immunity will experience abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting in a short period of time. If the child, pregnant woman or the elderly have low immunity, the situation may be more complicated and even life-threatening.

The source of salmonella is very complicated. It may be transmitted from the infected hen to the eggs, or it may be infected from contact with other eggs during transportation or storage. Usually, as long as a healthy egg comes into contact with an infected egg, it has a high probability of being infected.

Salmonella not only exists on the eggshell, but can also enter the egg through the pores in the eggshell. Therefore, even if we wash the eggs thoroughly before cracking them, we cannot prevent salmonella infection. After all, eggs are generally stored in the refrigerator for a long time, and for the sake of egg storage, we cannot wash the eggs in advance, so ordinary eggs are not suitable for eating raw.

In addition, when stored in the refrigerator, eggs may transmit salmonella to other foods in the refrigerator. Therefore, eggs just bought from the supermarket should not be mixed with other foods. Eggs usually come with their own egg boxes, which can be placed directly in the refrigerator. This is not only convenient for storing eggs, but also prevents contamination of other foods and bacteria from other foods from infecting eggs. If there is a special egg tray in the refrigerator, you can also put eggs in it, but the egg tray needs to be cleaned and disinfected frequently to prevent the egg tray itself from being infected with salmonella.

Because we cannot tell with the naked eye whether eggs are infected with salmonella, the best way to prevent accidents is to cook them thoroughly and make them safe. Salmonella cannot tolerate high temperatures, and eggs can be killed by thoroughly heating them. Generally speaking, a core temperature of 71 degrees Celsius is sufficient.

In order to achieve this level of complete killing, the egg yolk and egg white must be completely coagulated. In other words, if the egg is soft-boiled, there may still be salmonella residue, and it is not recommended to eat too much.

For those who like to eat soft-boiled eggs, it is best to choose eggs that can be eaten raw.

02

Why are edible eggs so expensive?

If you have ever bought edible eggs, or are planning to buy them, you will find that they are several times more expensive than ordinary eggs. They are the fighter among eggs. Why are they so expensive?

Because the cost of meeting the standards for raw food is really not low.

An edible egg is different from an ordinary egg from birth. In order to avoid infection at the source, edible egg manufacturers will conduct physical examinations on hens to prevent them from carrying pathogens. Moreover, this physical examination is not only for the egg-laying generation, but also needs to go back to the previous three generations. In other words, not only the laying hens themselves, but also the parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents of the laying hens must undergo rigorous testing.

On the basis of ensuring the health of the laying hens themselves, the living environment, feed, water quality and other aspects of the laying hens also need to be tested step by step to prevent the infection of pathogens. Some manufacturers of raw eggs will also advertise that in their own raw egg breeding farms, the chicken coops will have special air conditioning and fresh air systems to ensure that even the air is sterile. In short, the health of the hens themselves is not enough, the environment must also be sterile.

After numerous quality checks, a healthy egg is born. However, it still takes a long time for it to reach the consumer's table.

First of all, eggs need to go through a reasonable sterilization process. Usually, low-temperature pasteurization and ultraviolet disinfection are used. Low-temperature pasteurization is to treat eggs at a temperature of 55-60 degrees Celsius, which can kill bacteria and ensure that the eggs are not cooked. After the eggs are dried, they need to stay in ultraviolet light for about half an hour to kill residual bacteria.

After these two processes, the eggs basically meet the standards for raw consumption. Such eggs can be tested for microorganisms and packaged for shipment. However, since eggs are stored at room temperature, they may still be infected by bacteria in the air. Therefore, the storage and transportation of raw eggs require a cold chain throughout the process to ensure that the eggs will not be infected during the waiting process.

Since eggs that can be eaten raw undergo such strict quality inspections, it stands to reason that they should be safe to eat, right?

03

Any step before the table goes wrong will be risky

We need to remind you that since there is no strict national standard for raw edible eggs in China, the raw edible eggs on the market currently adopt the group standards of local associations or the standards set by enterprises. Choosing sterilized eggs is like opening a blind box. If you open it correctly, there will be no problem. If you open it incorrectly... abdominal pain and diarrhea will tell you what the tragic consequences of making a wrong choice will be.

Therefore, when choosing sterilized eggs, you must be sure to check what standard it adopts and whether this standard is reasonable . In addition, the selling time and placement of raw eggs on the shelf also need to be paid attention to. If the raw eggs are not placed in the cold chain throughout the process, or are simply placed together with ordinary eggs, then even if the manufacturer does a good job, the eggs will be contaminated during the sales process.

Even if you carefully choose the right brand, and the eggs are fortunately not contaminated on the shelf, the shelf life of raw eggs is quite short. In order to avoid risks, manufacturers usually indicate the raw edible period of eggs on the outer packaging, which is generally 10 to 15 days from the production date of the eggs. And when storing, they need to be refrigerated below 10 degrees Celsius, otherwise the eggs will also be infected and lose their quality of being edible raw. Of course, eggs can still be eaten after this period, so don't waste them, but remember to make sure they are cooked, otherwise diarrhea will still occur.

By the way, when you store them at home, you must remember to store sterilized eggs separately from ordinary eggs. It is also recommended to store sterilized eggs in a special egg box, after all, there may be a lot of microorganisms in the refrigerator.

In short, if everything goes well, then you can eat raw eggs. But if you can't guarantee that every process of selecting, purchasing, and storing eggs is safe, then it's better to cook them thoroughly and be safe!

Author｜Li Tailuo popular science author

Review｜Chen Ran Associate Research Librarian (Science Communication)/Senior Engineer, COFCO Nutrition and Health Research Institute