A giant egg shaped bombshell just dropped at the FDA's news page today. A "four fold increase" in salmonella poising has happened in the last few months and standard grocery store eggs are the culprit. Unsafe conditions yields unhealthy chickens you know where it goes from there. Yes, in this case you know what came first, a chicken, not the egg. Tainted eggs are just too common.
I remember as a child being scared to eat cookie dough, afraid of salmonella poisoning. But it doesn't have to be that way. If you have healthy, safe chickens you should have worry free eggs and that means you can have Caesar salad, Holladaise sauce and a perfectly poached egg without fretting choosing taste over safety. You can have both. But consequently you have to pay for it.
Farm fresh eggs that are pastured, steroid and hormone free are fantastic. Even the USDA admits their superiority over commercial eggs; they website states that compared to their cheap supermarket competitor pastured eggs may contain:
• 1/3 less cholesterol• 1/4 less saturated fat• 2/3 more vitamin A• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids• 3 times more vitamin E• 7 times more beta carotene
And they are much, much safer and delicious. But yes you will pay more; how much will depend on where you are. I buy eggs from pastured steroid and hormone free chickens at my farmer's market and pay $5 for 2 dozen. I know others pay more in other areas. But for me, it seems one of the best deals at the market. But, if I don't make it to the market and buy the cheap eggs- I do what we all should be doing- I cook those eggs completely.
What kind of eggs are you buying? Do you feel like the price is fair?
Read more in these egg-cellent articles. (No, I couldn't resist.)
A side-by-side taste test of commercial eggs versus farm fresh from a normal guy
A wonderful and thourough article on just what pastured eggs are and what sets them apart from the supermarket variety
Have you had food poisoning from unsafe food?
What foods do you think are worth spending more on to get something safer?
My Russian pals suggest you call it Romanov sauce. And they're usually right, except when the discussion turns to the probable success rate of the N1.
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