# Egg cooking for salmonella **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 15, 2002, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-cooking-for-salmonella/114172 "2002-06-15T04:56:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-cooking-for-salmonella/114172/1 "2002-06-15T04:56:09Z")
How much cooking is required to make safe an egg from salmonella or whatever other nasties it might have? What is the probability of getting sick from eating a single raw egg, and does it matter whether you consume the yolk and/or the white? I’ve made egg nog with full raw eggs before and not gotten sick, and I’m sure many here have eaten raw cookie dough. Last night I got bored and made a cake and icing using recipes from my 1946 edition of The Joy of Cooking. The icing was the very simple ‘White Icing I’ where two cups of sugar and a bit of water boiling at about 240 degrees is slowly incorporated into two egg whites. Would the heat from the sugar and the heat from the boiled water that the bowl was sitting in be sufficient to kill off any nasties? Slight semi-related side question: why do ovens have preheat? Is the fact that I overcooked my cake by accidentally baking it on preheat worth appeasing the few cooking illiterate who can’t find the ‘any key’? ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-cooking-for-salmonella/114172/2 "2002-06-15T05:10:52Z")
Eggs are pretty safe: [http://www.aeb.org/safety/egg\_handling\_and\_care\_guide.html#Eggs%20and%20Food%20Safety](http://www.aeb.org/safety/egg_handling_and_care_guide.html#Eggs%20and%20Food%20Safety) > [@](#): > > The risk of getting a foodborne illness from eggs is very low. However, the nutrients that make eggs a high-quality food for humans are also a good growth medium for bacteria. \< snip \> > > The inside of an egg was once considered almost sterile. But, over recent years, the bacterium Salmonella enteritidis (Se) has been found inside a small number of eggs. Scientists estimate that, on average across the U.S., only 1 of every 20,000 eggs might contain the bacteria. So, the likelihood that an egg might contain Se is extremely small – 0.005% (five one-thousandths of one percent). At this rate, if you’re an average consumer, you might encounter a contaminated egg once every 84 years. \< snip \> > > If an egg containing Salmonella has been kept refrigerated and someone who uses good hygiene practices serves it to you immediately after proper cooking, you’ll simply have a nutritious meal. If the egg has been improperly handled, though, you might experience the foodborne illness called salmonellosis.\< snip \> Overall eggs are safe to use raw but you don’t want to serve a raw egg dish to a child under 3-4 (I think that’s correct) or to the elderly or those with compromised immune systems. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-cooking-for-salmonella/114172/3 "2002-06-15T06:23:17Z")
It also nicely answers my question about the icing, saying that it’s pretty much safe. Great link, **techchick68**. Such a pity that pre-chicks 1-67 were made into cakes… 🙂 Now if I can only keep myself from using preheat. ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-cooking-for-salmonella/114172/4 "2002-06-16T17:20:36Z")
I’m one of those people who loves to eat raw cookie dough. Of course, its not safe because of the salamonella to do so using regular eggs. So I buy pre-pasturized eggs called Eggbeaters. 1/4 cup = one large egg. They taste the same and are much safer. 🙂