Eggs, recalled

Salmonella causes the nation’s largest egg recall ever

By Culinate staff

August 30, 2010

In case you missed it last week, the nation is currently going through its largest egg recall ever, with more than half a billion eggs recalled due to a salmonella outbreak. The recall has boosted both wholesale conventional-egg prices and organic-egg sales.

The outbreak has also spurred critics to push for both animal-rights reforms (bans on tiny birdcages, for example) and national food-safety legislation (the Food Safety Modernization Act, which has stalled in the Senate).

In a full-page advertisement in the August 25 edition of USA Today, the United Egg Producers’ Egg Safety Center tried to reassure consumers that eggs were safe to eat. “Yes they are,” proclaimed the ad. “Thoroughly cooked eggs are thoroughly safe eggs . . . cooked until the whites and yolks are firm.”

In other words, you can eat eggs only if they’re hard-boiled. Because the egg industry would like you to believe that food safety is your responsibility, not theirs.