Another Bad Break for Eggs

By Denise Grady

"One hopes for so much from a chicken and is so dreadfully disillusioned," wrote Sherwood Anderson in 1921, in a celebrated short story titled The Egg. Anderson's melancholy view is more apropos than ever. The poor egg, already condemned by heart specialists for its high cholesterol content, was blamed in last week's Journal of the American Medical Association for yet another scourge: food poisoning. Illness due to the bacterium Salmonella enteritidis -- vomiting, stomach cramps, diarrhea, fever and headache -- has increased sevenfold in the northeastern U.S. during the past decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And during a recent two-year period in the region, eggs caused 77% of those cases traceable to a food source. The most severe symptoms tend to occur in infants and the elderly. Moreover, the problem seems to be spreading west and south.

Most disturbing is that the Northeast outbreaks, affecting 2,119 people and killing eleven of them, struck despite precautions taken specifically to keep the bacteria at bay. Because chickens frequently harbor salmonella in their intestines and contaminate eggshells with their droppings, cracked eggs cannot be sold to retail markets. To pass state and federal inspections, intact ones must be washed with disinfectant before they are shipped. Nonetheless, all the food-poisoning cases blamed on eggs were traced to the grade-A variety, which had been washed and inspected for cracks. This finding has led researchers to suggest that the bacteria came from inside the eggs, not from the shells: the hens' ovaries might have been infected, and transmitted salmonella to the egg yolks before the shells were formed. The theory has yet to be proved, however. Says Cathy McCharen of the Egg Nutrition Center in Washington: "They still haven't found the bacteria anywhere but on the shell."

For the moment, explaining just how the bacteria are transmitted is less important than informing people of the risks and how to reduce them. "There's no reason to stop eating eggs -- they are one of the most excellent sources of nutrition," says Dr. Dale Morse of the New York State health department. But, he stresses, eggs should be cooked, because heat destroys salmonella. Recipes that call for fresh raw eggs -- eggnog, Caesar-salad dressing and mayonnaise -- are out. (But packaged varieties of these foods are safe, because commercial producers use pasteurized eggs, which are not commonly available to consumers.) In addition, cracked eggs should be discarded and intact ones, cooked or raw, should never be stored at room temperature. Cooking must be thorough, experts emphasize: people have fallen ill from undercooked dishes. Hollandaise sauce, often warmed at low heat, is a major culprit.

Experiments with eggs that have been deliberately infected have shown that frying them sunny-side up, without flipping them over, does not kill all the bacteria; the eggs had to be fried three minutes on each side. Other recipes also need altering, probably to the cook's despair: boiling requires seven minutes to ensure safety, poaching five, and omelets must be cooked until no liquid remains. Restaurateurs may balk at such guidelines. Says John Benson, of Manhattan's Mme. Romaine de Lyon, which offers 500 types of omelet: "I certainly can't make an omelet well done or dry unless it's at the customer's request." But if salmonellosis is not brought under control, customers may make that request -- or stop ordering eggs.

With reporting by Joyce Leviton/Atlanta and Janice C. Simpson/New York