Ask Mike: Where do the eggs go?
Hey Guys,
Over the past several weeks, well over half a billion eggs have been recalled due to salmonella worries. The “bad eggs” (pun not intended) were either “destroyed,” according to various news reports, or returned to the two big farms from which they came. But what happens to the eggs that these farm hens keep laying? Do those get tossed, too?
The answer might surprise you: According to the Washington Post, many of these eggs are sold to food businesses that can pasteurize them. Pasteurizing, in which the product is heated to a specific temperature, kills the salmonella. The recalled eggs will then be “used in liquid egg products or processed foods.”
The Wall Street Journal points out that there is something very important to keep in mind here. The eggs being sold for pasteurization are not (repeat: NOT) the same eggs that have been recalled. Those were apparently destroyed, though how, exactly, remains a bit of a mystery. The eggs being sold are fresh eggs, which may or may not contain salmonella. Regardless, pasteurization kills the bacteria.
So where do the eggs end up, specifically? HealthDay explains that they’ll go in “food products ranging from salad dressings to cookie dough to cake mixes.” Consumers shouldn’t fear — “those products will be perfectly safe for consumers to eat.”
That should ease some worries. Web searches on “egg recall” remain in Yahoo!’s top 100 overall terms, and over the past week, interest in “list of recalled egg brands” has soared over 9,000%, and “salmonella symptoms” are also big in Search.
For a complete list of the recalled brands and labels, check here.
Thanks for reading,
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The eggs returned to retailers and/or the producers are likely just thrown into a dumpster and broken so that they can decompose, assuring that they do not inadvertently re-enter the supply stream.
into a frying pan with cheese and into your mouth makeing a trail of yummy until it reaches our tummy
guess this egg recall be be eggspensive
oh no i got egg on myface
anyone remember batman(the one with adam west) one of the villians
was they fought was named egg head -i wonder if he would interested in those recalled eggs?
the eggs go in the refreightrater at the side
What they ought to do is recall the owner of all those farms and put him in prison. He’s been written up so many times in the past and still won’t do what is needed to protect his farms. The news yesterday said that there were maggots and flies and just about every other kind of bad things going on when the government inspected the farms in Ohio yesterday and still the owner is walking the streets. Why? Hasn’t he committed a crime?
woah, thanks, and your welcome
Ok, more carefully this time!
This happened in Britain in the 1980′s. It was due to regulations regarding health and safety being relaxed and restricted, at the demand of the egg producers. Formerly binding legal constraints on egg producers were replaced by a “gentleman’s agreement”.
Result – a salmonella outbreak. I wrote to advise you that you in the USA may not have seen the end of it yet. Salmonella in eggs was followed by listeria in cheese and milk and then the world-famous “Mad cow disease”
Millions of contaminated eggs were destroyed. The eg producers whose greed had led to the scandal were compensated at taxpayers’ expense. (complain to your congrssmen if this happens in the USA – your money is used to bail out rich men from the results of their negligience)
Hoping this is allowed to stand – I’m assuming the previous posting was deleted for whatever reason.
Ok,its very great moment for you ! more carefully this time!
This happened in Britain in the 1980’s. It was due to regulations regarding health and safety being relaxed and restricted, at the demand of the egg producers.
Yep- funny thing about our system of politics and the regulators. They all seem to be in the pockets of any number of large businesses. Now with our Supreme Court throwing out at least a modicum of restraint on those bribes that companies are allowed to make by negating the campaign finance reform McCain/Feingold got passed a few years ago. I mean now that those corporations can donate (bribe) any amount they want, it means the politicians will be soliciting those corporations for the largest bribes in return for favors at the federal level.
Cool information!
watch the movie”Napoleon Dynamite”.
the scene where Napoleon is working in the chicken farm. then watch the movie with the directors narration turned on and learn that was a real farm.
you will then understand why the chickens got sick and caused this outbreak.
they really do pack the chickens in cages like sardines.
do not ever buy eggs from stores. only buy from local farmers markets that have free range eggs.
they let the chickens out of the cages and let them eat bugs.
makes for a healthy chicken and a great tasting egg.
my store wrote them up and sat the whole pallet of eggs by the dumpster so me and my friends came by at night and took 10 cases so at halloween we have something to throw at houses and other peeps. cars
They go to McDonalds, of course!
I just wanted you to know that most of the eggs went into the food chain, they were used to make feed for pigs and cows…in fact we had so many bad eggs we put more than what was called for per batch of feed which means you got more for your money…
Another reason not to eat processed food – the love and care that goes into the ingredient selection process…”oh yeah, that’ll do…”