January 20
Cocktail doyenne Audrey Saunders says her Pegu Club was visited by the health department last night and, well, this is what she told her Facebook "friends":
"Everything was fine until the inspector looked on our menu, saw the Earl Grey MarTEAni, and told us that ... even with the warning we have printed on our menu about raw eggs, using raw eggs is a violation ... and that we have to switch to pasteurized eggs in our cocktails."
No-doubt the American Egg Board, egg producers' promotional body, would support the move, because they support anything that helps prevent food poisoning from eggs (wouldn't you? I mean you don't want people getting sick from your product), but in fact only one in about 20,000 eggs contains salmonella, according to the AEB.
I tell ya, eggs get a bad rap. They're not likely to raise your blood cholesterol either. From what I understand, the biggest contributing factor to blood cholesterol is genetics, and after that it's saturated fat. Eggs have a lot of dietary cholesterol, but not much saturated fat, and, counter-intuitive as it may seem, dietary cholesterol doesn't contribute to blood cholesterol.
In fact, egg yolks are really good for you. They contain all sorts of good micronutrients, including folate, Vitamins B6, B12, A and E, a bit of D and all sorts of carotenoids, which are good for your eyes, like carrots are.
Egg whites are pretty much protein.
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2 comments:
If I may: the AEB wants you to believe that their product is as safe as 1 in 20,000. It is, in fact, not.
That is a very old statistic that the egg board manipulated in their favor.
The health department, USDA, CDC, FSIS, FDA have public safety in mind when determining that raw eggs are not safe for the general population. More than 35% of the general population is immune compromised. That makes them more susceptible to even small amounts of pathogens.
The REAL risk of contaminated eggs is more like 1 in 4,000. You don't hear about the lawsuits because the lawyers keep the settlements under wraps.
Pasteurized eggs are the ONLY way to ensure that no one becomes sick from raw or undercooked eggs. They will keep the lawyers of your back.
Thank you very much for your comment, Bette. Can I ask where you got the statistic that more than 35 percent of the population is immune compromised? That seems impossible to me.
I think your 1-in-4,000 figure is possible, but I’d like to hear where that number comes from, too.
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