Buying eggs

[Diyah]

Hello, is it safe to purchase eggs from the grocery store? Canada is stated to have a recent avian flu outbreak. Are eggs decontaminated before going to the store? Please help me out I'm confused

 

[Xoetix]

I assume Canada is much like the US that eggs are washed before being sold. From what I can find online, it looks like store bought eggs should be fine.

 

[Zara]

Woah.
Did not know this! I had to google it!

"Do they wash eggs in Canada?
Yes. Canada follows the U.S. practice of washing eggs, which removes their protective coating. They will spoil if they're not refrigerated."

"In Canada, eggs are graded, sized and packed at a grading station that is registered with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. All eggs are washed and sanitized in a high-speed washer that gently scrubs the shells."

Looks like they are santized... but not sure how effective it is against Avian flu....

edit; I just found this,
"The U.S. Food and Drug Administrations says that there is no evidence that anyone has been infected with the avian flu by eating properly cooked eggs. Cooking eggs to 160°F (71°C) will kill the avian flu virus. The recommendation for cooking eggs well is supported."

 

[Xoetix]

Woah.
Did not know this! I had to google it!

"Do they wash eggs in Canada?
Yes. Canada follows the U.S. practice of washing eggs, which removes their protective coating. They will spoil if they're not refrigerated."

"In Canada, eggs are graded, sized and packed at a grading station that is registered with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. All eggs are washed and sanitized in a high-speed washer that gently scrubs the shells."

Looks like they are santized... but not sure how effective it is against Avian flu....

edit; I just found this,
"The U.S. Food and Drug Administrations says that there is no evidence that anyone has been infected with the avian flu by eating properly cooked eggs. Cooking eggs to 160°F (71°C) will kill the avian flu virus. The recommendation for cooking eggs well is supported."

Yeah, I think it's primarily Canada and the US where we HAVE to refrigerate our eggs. I can't recall about the UK, but I feel like it's common to get unwashed eggs practically anywhere else.

Cooking eggs also reduces the chance of salmonella too. I think it's still possible to get it, but it's really uncommon.

 

[Zara]

I can't recall about the UK

The UK is very strict. No egg washing at all. Not even a light wash.

 

[Shezbug]

The UK is very strict. No egg washing at all. Not even a light wash.

Pretty sure the chook farms in the UK have to vaccinate all chooks against salmonella which makes a difference in the likely chance of getting sick from the eggs.

 

[Xoetix]

Pretty sure the chook farms in the UK have to vaccinate all chooks against salmonella which makes a difference in the likely chance of getting sick from the eggs.

Huh. I had no idea there was a vaccine. I assume commercial producers in the US have to do it as well, but I know hobby farms/keepers don't need to.

 

[flyzipper]

I live in Canada and eat eggs daily.

I've been monitoring the H5N1 situation because that's a concern for me when I have my birds outside, but eggs and chicken sold in stores isn't.

There's pretty tight control over poultry and egg production by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and I would expect farms which are involved in an H5N1 outbreak would have their products controlled. Their site comments that, "There is no evidence to suggest that eating cooked poultry or eggs could transmit HPAI to humans", and tracks how many farms have been involved in outbreaks.

Following safe food handling guidelines is smart in general.

 

[Shezbug]

Huh. I had no idea there was a vaccine. I assume commercial producers in the US have to do it as well, but I know hobby farms/keepers don't need to.

No I do not think so. I know that a lot of our farms do vaccinate but a lot also do not.

I actually prefer to buy my eggs from someone with chooks in their backyard, the eggs are always nicer and I am of the feeling the chooks will be better treated and happier than those on egg farms.

 

[Shezbug]

I live in Canada and eat eggs daily.

I've been monitoring the H5N1 situation because that's a concern for me when I have my birds outside, but eggs and chicken sold in stores isn't.

There's pretty tight control over poultry and egg production by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and I would expect farms which are involved in an H5N1 outbreak would have their products controlled. Their site comments that, "There is no evidence to suggest that eating cooked poultry or eggs could transmit HPAI to humans", and tracks how many farms have been involved in outbreaks.

Following safe food handling guidelines is smart in general.

I would think if there have been flu outbreaks there that all chooks are possibly meant to stay contained inside huge sheds while the risk of flu is about- do you know if this is the case?

 

[flyzipper]

I would think if there have been flu outbreaks there that all chooks are possibly meant to stay contained inside huge sheds while the risk of flu is about- do you know if this is the case?

The containment protocols are pretty severe from what I've read -- along the lines of, all bird at a site are culled if any birds at the site test positive.

When the farm is large, that means thousands of birds.

Using the published figures, Ontario has had 48 infected premises, and 849,00 impacted birds, which averages 17687 per incident.

I like your approach of supporting small farmers.

 

[flyzipper]

I would think if there have been flu outbreaks there that all chooks are possibly meant to stay contained inside huge sheds while the risk of flu is about- do you know if this is the case?

Another way of answering that is through movement control policies to limit spread the first place.

 

[Shezbug]

The containment protocols are pretty severe from what I've read -- along the lines of, all bird at a site are culled if any birds at the site test positive.

When the farm is large, that means thousands of birds.

Using the published figures, Ontario has had 48 infected premises, and 849,00 impacted birds, which averages 17687 per incident.

I like your approach of supporting small farmers.

We had a few farms hit with illnesses a while back- there were chook, turkey and emu farms all hit really bad- one ill bird or suspected ill bird and the whole site is cleared of life and decontaminated.