What would make an egg white turn red?

I tried googling but the results did not help. I got a lot of red pepper omelet recipes. I did a board search and was reminded that egg and red have three letters each and are invalid search terms.

I was making brownies and cracked open an egg. The white was blood red eeew The yolk was a normal yellow. Nothing smelled strange. There was nothing else in the egg like chick parts - just a normal egg in every way except the red “white.”

I tossed it - certainly wasn’t going to eat it! But I wondered what would do that as I’ve never seen anything like it before.

You guessed correctly:

Blood.
It’s still safe to eat, if perhaps unappetizing.

It’s the result of a broken capillary in the reproductive system. They’re safe to eat, though.

Correction: For large blood spots (which seems to be what you had), the egg should be discarded. Sorry for the mis-information.

From here (US Gov site):

Blood spots are caused by a rupture of one or more small blood vessels in the yolk at the time of ovulation. It does not indicate the egg is unsafe.

A cloudy white (albumen) is a sign the egg is very fresh. A clear egg white is an indication the egg is aging.

Pink or iridescent egg white (albumen) indicates spoilage due to Pseudomonas bacteria. Some of these microorganisms – which produce a greenish, fluorescent, water-soluble pigment – are harmful to humans.

I would just like to contribute…BLARGH and ICK :eek: