Testing For Salmonella in raw eggs
I purchased eggs from the refrigerator in a local grocery store...When arriving home I missed and left them on the floor in my house in the plastic grocery bag still in the carton for 2 weeks! The temperature in my house stays on 76-78 degrees here in Florida.
Is there a test that I can do here at home to see if the eggs have spoiled or have salmonella, or should I just throw them away? When I found them here I put them in my refrigerator but have not used them.
Best Answer
The FDA advises no more than 2 hours should pass between purchasing refrigerated raw eggs and putting them back into a refrigerator. 2 weeks exceeds that by 168-fold. Toss those eggs and purchase new ones.
There is no easy at-home test for salmonella, and certainly none as cheap as a carton of eggs. If you want to completely avoid the risk, I would recommend finding a source of pasteurized eggs. Barring that, get new eggs from the store and follow all FDA advice regarding their storage, handling, and cooking.
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Is there a way to test eggs for Salmonella?
You must start to take samples from adult egg-laying hens in the layer unit or house when they're between 22 and 26 weeks old. You must use one of these types of samples: 2 pairs of boot swabs (from barn or free-range flocks) 2 composite faeces samples of 150g each from caged flocks.How do you know if a raw egg has Salmonella?
You can't tell if an egg has salmonella just by looking at it. The bacteria can be present inside an egg as well as on the shell. Cooking food thoroughly can kill salmonella. Be aware that runny, poached, or soft eggs aren't fully cooked \u2014 even if they are delicious.How do you know if raw eggs are safe?
If you do need to use raw eggs in a recipe, you can err on the safe side and opt for pasteurized versions. \u201cIf they're in the shell or in cartons and they're pasteurized, the USDA does say that raw eggs are safe,\u201d Czerwony says, and notes that packaging will state when eggs are pasteurized.How likely is it to get Salmonella from raw eggs?
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 1 in every 20,000 eggs are contaminated with Salmonella. Persons infected with Salmonella may experience diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, headache, nausea and vomiting.More answers regarding testing For Salmonella in raw eggs
Answer 2
There is no viable test. Even if a microbiologist started culturing your eggs now, it would take several days to find out the microbiological status of the eggs as of today - but several days will have passed in the meantime, so the information won't help you anyway. And the cost of this culturing would be completely ridiculous when compared to the cost of a carton of eggs.
There is no practical way to find out if food is actually dangerous or not. All that's feasible to do is to follow storage guidelines. If you did not, your food is not safe, and nobody can tell you if it will make you sick or not.
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