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How safe is it to eat raw eggs?

I wanted to try a japanese dish called tamago kake gohan, it's basically raw eggs mixed with rice. The problem is that I'm scared to get salmonella from it. Do you guys think it's safe to eat them? I'm currently living in Brazil. Also, I saw this article telling that the brand I buy my eggs from is exporting to Japan, would this mean they're salmonella-free?

37 comments
  • Last time I researched this, I came to the following conclusions:

    1. Salmonella lives on/in the hard shell part of an egg (not penetrating it) so unless you consume the shell, you should be fine
    2. If an egg has a lion stamp on it (UK only I think) it means that the farm it came from is certified not to have salmonella
    3. I ate raw eggs (including shell) on many occasion (not really a party trick but I like to shock people every now and then :D) and never have I ever encountered any unpleasantries because of this (apart from them tasking like runny boogers).
    • Number 1 is wrong. Salmonellae primarily live on the shell, but they possibly propagate to everything that touches the shell, including obviously the inner part of the egg.

      Number 2 is good to know: The lion stamp eggs are from chicken that have been vaccinated against the most common salmonella infections. There is no 100% guarantee that it is effective, but together with hygienic measures and regular controls, they can be seen as virtually salmonella-free. Worth noting that vaccination is a requirement in many countries (e.g. Germany), and EU-wide for big farms.

  • I think that when it comes to food safety, you should definitely just ask random people on the internet...

    • Information about the topic for the country I live is scarce, searching in english for more results would not help. Queries in portuguese just return the obvious "yes, there is a risk", and of course the egg brand won't say anything about it other than "there's a risk" otherwise they would get sued if someone got sick. That's why I'm asking on Lemmy, to get opinion from real people othen than the obvious stuff.

  • As long as the eggs are store-bought you should be fine (do not use caipira chicken eggs). Otherwise Paraná would be a desert, given how often we prepare mayo with raw yolks here.

  • tamago kake gohan, it’s basically raw eggs mixed with rice

    Haha, that's literally all it is. As someone who's eaten it many times, don't get your hopes up. It's the "I've just woken up after drinking last night and only sleeping 4 hours but I gotta go to work and I can't be fucking bothered to cook" breakfast.

  • Chega de frescura e come o ovo de uma vez

    • Realmente, mas assim, n iria me contaminar com salmonela só pq sim. Se tivesse um risco grande seria mais fácil simplesmente não comer

      • Quem vive com medo de tudo não vive, cara

        Tá coçando pra tentar algo, então bota pra quebrar, não fica nessa enrolação

        Tenho certeza que você não fica pensando no risco toda vez que entra num carro; apenas o risco de se machucar é bem maior

      • Vou escrever em inglês porque esse tipo de info é bom de compartilhar.

        The risk is fairly small. Like, considerably smaller than eating a street hot dog. But if you're still worried about salmonella, you can pasteurise the eggs at home, it's really annoying (the egg is safe at 59°C, but it starts cooking at 65°C, so the temp margin is fairly small).

        If willing to do it, you'll need a large pot, a thermometer, and ideally a thermal bag.

        1. Fill the pot with water. Heat it until the water goes beyond 59°C. Around 70°C should be fine.
        2. Transfer the pot with water to the thermal bag. Let it cool back until the water is around 62°C. (Overheating it and letting it cool is a bit more foolproof than trying to reach the exact temperature right off the bat.)
        3. Place the eggs in the water. Close the pot and the thermal bag. Forget about it for 15min.

        Using a larger pot is recommended because more water = more thermal mass = more constant temperature.

    • Melhor resposta.

  • Do you use to eat your eggs sunny-side-up? (With the yellow still liquid?) If so, you should be safe. Or you've been lucky, I have no clue as to the prevalence of Salmonella in Brazil.

37 comments