Chicken eggs are nutritious and healthy food that should not be eaten raw. However, along with this, veterinarians strongly advise washing eggs even before heat treatment. This raises many questions from consumers who do not see the point in washing shells that are not used for food.
Salmonella
Chicken eggs pose a potential risk to human health, not only raw. After the egg is born, its initial internal purity is disturbed by an air bubble that forms inside after cooling and brings various bacteria into the white / yolk. Moreover, most of them remain on the surface of the shell, which is a fairly common cause of salmonellosis infection. Goose and duck eggs, which have a more porous shell structure, are especially dangerous in terms of the transfer of Salmonella.
Washing chicken eggs with soap and hot water just before cooking is an essential preventive measure to minimize the risk of salmonellosis. Then they must undergo mandatory heat treatment in the form of boiling for four to five minutes or frying on both sides. Quail eggs should also be washed - but only if they lay next to chicken eggs, since quails cannot tolerate Salmonella due to their increased body temperature.
Storing chicken eggs
The risk of contracting salmonellosis increases significantly with the consumption of domestic chicken eggs, since chickens in poultry farms are regularly vaccinated and are constantly under strict veterinary supervision. Chicken eggs should be stored on the wall of the refrigerator, the temperature of which is from 2 to 4 ° C. If you intend to store eggs for a long time, it is not recommended to wash them before this. If the eggs cannot be placed in the refrigerator, you need to grease their surface with any vegetable fat and put in a dark place. Vegetable fat can slightly extend the life of an egg, but outside the refrigerator it will at least halve it.
When buying eggs, you should not look closely at their color, since it is associated exclusively with the breed of the chicken that laid it. But the marking of eggs should be paid more attention, since it is she who determines the properties and shelf life of the egg. So, the letter "D" denotes dietary eggs, and the letter "C" - canteens. Ideally, chicken eggs are not recommended to be stored for longer than twenty-five days, and when eaten, the yolk should have a rich yellow color without any streaks or blotches. A prerequisite for the freshness of the egg is also the absence of an unpleasant specific smell of hydrogen.
