Raw eggs and pregnancy: is it all what it's cracked up to be?
At first I didn't think anyone would care much about raw eggs. I mean, who really eats them that often except maybe Mr. Olympia wannabes?
Then a reader pointed out that cookie dough would have raw eggs in it. Sweet hammer of Thor, this one had to be addressed immediately! Raw eggs are in everything wonderful – brownie mix, caesar salad (sometimes), homemade mayonnaise (if you're Martha Stewart) and cookie dough.
So Salmonella is the potential bacteria here.
Salmonella bacteria is everywhere and it spreads easily. The bacteria can be found in the intestinal tracts of animals, birds, reptiles, insects and people. While the egg itself may not be contaminated when you buy it, it can become contaminated from improper handling with unclean hands, pets, other foods and kitchen equipment.
If you eat an egg containing salmonella, you may experience abdominal cramps, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, chills, fever and/or headache within 6 to 72 hours after consuming it. You're usually over it within 4 to 7 days and it doesn't affect your baby directly. Dehydration is the bigger concern so keep watch for that if you have a prolonged assplosion going on.
Scientists estimate that, on average across the U.S., only 1 of every 20,000 eggs might contain the bacteria so, if you’re an average consumer, you might encounter a contaminated egg once every 84 years. Furthermore, in the U.S., eggshells are washed and sanitized to remove possible hazards that could be deposited on the outside of an egg.
There are over 2,500 known types, but the three most common ones are Typhimurium, Enteritidis, and Typhi. From what I can gather, the samonella that affects eggs is Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium. Salmonella typhi (from the folks that brought you Salmonella enterica enterica and Darryl and his other brother Darryl) is the type that causes typhoid fever and it's relatively uncommon in developed countries.
Confusing, non?
Dear Science Nerds, OPI comes up with names for every single one of their nail polishes so maybe you could come up with a better distinction between a bacteria that give you the trots for two days and something that can kill you? Just sayin'.
As for our beloved cookie dough, it seems unlikely that you would come across a contaminated egg and it doesn't sound like it's all that awful if you did. Once again, I'm sure somebody somewhere has some horror story about an egg "incident" but I'm sure there's somebody somewhere that knows somebody that died from a paper cut – perhaps from the cutalingus cutalingus bacteria. *snort*
search: raw eggs salmonella, raw egg dangers, salmonella pregnancy, s. typhimurium, s. enteritidis
15 Comments
Reader Comments (15)
I just make the cookie dough from a box and don't add the egg to it. Tastes close enough that I really don't notice a difference....
I wanted to eat a whole bowl of cake batter the other day! Thanks for this! [:
Cookie dough has been my weakness since I was old enough to make it myself. I've made up batches and batches of chocolate chip cookie dough and never cooked them. When I became pregnant with our first child, I got the stink eye from the husband for eating it raw and had to give it up. However, with number two, I put my foot down and ate it anyway. Thing was, we were then raising our own hens and had free-range eggs at our disposal. On top of that, we were making our own butter and using organic flour. I reasoned that eating the cookie dough was actually a health benefit to our second baby and scarfed down my weight in dough. Third time around and I am not stopping anytime soon. The bargain now is that half the raw dough becomes my hubby's favorite bar cookie and he's conveniently forgotten the inherent "danger" in the raw stuff I shovel down.
So yeah, eat up girls! It's all good!
Becky
Nowadays you can just buy pasteurized egg product, aka Egg Beaters, and make your cookie dough with that. Then eat it - who needs an oven?
My wife loves Caesar salad made in the traditional way but a good trick to have your cake (or salad or cookie dough) and eat it too is to "coddle" the egg. This process is you put your egg (uncracked) into boiling water for 30-45 seconds. It doesn't cook the egg, but it kills any bacteria inside.
Okay, but what about eggs benedict? Egg-covered eggs is my favorite breakfast food in the world and everyone says I can't have it because hollandaise is made with raw eggs and the only runny eggs will do in a benedict!
Oh God, I love eggs benedict and you are totally right that it isn't right if it's over cooked.
As I said in the post, even if you get a bum egg (which is fairly rare) and you do get sick, salmonella isn't something that crosses the placenta so you'll feel like crap but your baby should be safe. I know in eggs benedict both the egg and the hollandaise is cooked but I'm not sure if it's cooked to a temperature that safety nuts would like -- I'm going to guess not seeing as they like everything cooked to shoe leather levels.
If I had to put it in perspective, I'd say do up your seat belt when you drive to the restaurant and take your chances with the egg.
Seriously LOL'd @ ASSPLOSION!
Olive Garden salad dressing also has raw eggs in it! It's not an obvious no-no so I was shocked when I found out...how can you go to Olive Garden and NOT have the salad??? I purchased the bottle of salad dressing for home use and the ingredients list verifies the eggs...so if you are one of those people avoiding raw eggs products, take this dressing off your list!
That was one of the delicious one! i love egg prepared recipes. that was so yummy..
Any idea on boiled or fried eggs. I love a runny egg, I cook the White but I can't eat a hard yolk. I'm guessing it's safe better be cause I've been eating it.
Pasteurised raw Eggs solve this problem. :) Not sure where to find them, but they're out there... According to Alton Brown (food network, Good Eats) at any rate.
My midwife was clear that soft boiled eggs, such as for egg and soldiers, can be eaten as long as they are used when fresh (dont leave lingering in the fridge until best before date) and are clearly stamped with the Lion mark. I'm 19 weeks now and have grown so frustrated by the conflicting "do's & don'ts" of what to eat that I just use my common sense instead, seemed to work for my Mum and Nan!
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Just for women from outside the US. In most of Europe eggs are not sanitized. Having a salmonella infection is a propable risk. You risk a serious infection. Much worse than just influenza. Buy pasteurised eggs for anything with raw eggs in it. It´s safe and easy. Good for cooking with children who wants to teaste raw cookiedough.
Good luck.
Emma Midwife Denmark
A study of eggs in the UK a few years back tested 250,000 eggs and found NO cases of Salmonella. I'm currently 26 weeks and still eat runny yolks. To each their own, but getting in a car or crossing the road is far more risky - perhaps we should ban pregnant women from leaving the house?