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Originally posted by Redsol1
(and this is something i did not know untill recently), eggs must be cooked for the protein to be usable to humans. cooking does something to the chains of proteins in the egg that makes them digestable. i'll try to did the info up and post it as a responce.
La'
Redsol1
Originally posted by butterfly
Here's a good article on the subject http://my.webmd.com/printing/article/1671.51385
some highlights...
The Salmonella scare emerged in 1985 when Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers first found the bacteria Salmonella enteritidis not just on the outer shells of eggs, but also inside them. The odds of buying such eggs are extremely low, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) -- one in 20,000. The problem is, there's no way to tell which ones are infected. To be safe, in July the FDA recommended that eggs be kept refrigerated and used within 30 days of purchase.
Salmonella infection can range from mild to severe, but its symptoms are usually clear: abdominal cramps, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, chills, fever, or headache. These typically appear anywhere from six to 72 hours after you eat a salmonella-tainted meal, leaving you to wonder, was it the chicken? The burger? The eggs in the no-bake cheesecake?
In fact, it could be any of them, or it could have been from salmonella lurking on your kitchen sponge. That's because salmonella is everywhere -- not just in eggs. Chances are that if you tested, you'd find the pesky bacteria on your fingertips right now. Not a problem if you have a normal immune system, which can fight off the infection in a day or two. But it can lead to serious complications for the very young, the pregnant, the elderly, the ill, and those with weakened immune function.
Until 1985, researchers thought bacteria lurking on the shell surface was the most likely source of salmonella contamination in eggs. Today, this risk is minimized because eggshells are washed and sterilized during processing. But researchers were surprised in the mid-'80s by a new finding -- salmonella lurking in the yolk membrane itself. These bacteria are literally born in the egg, entering from the infected ovaries of the laying hen, says Bessie Berry, manager of the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Meat and Poultry Hotline. An added problem for the farmer is that the laying hen does not appear sick in any way.
The birds can become infected with salmonella in two ways: Either they're born from an infected mother hen, or they pick up salmonella along the way, perhaps when an unlucky fly lands on the hen's food tray and is gobbled up. Farm eggs and free-range eggs are not immune from contamination either, says Berry.
Testing the laying hens is the only way to determine infection. But testing is a staggering task when you take into account the numbers: There is one laying hen for every man, woman, and child in the United States -- about 260 million birds, according to FDA statistics. Finding the one infected egg in 20,000 is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Nevertheless, the FDA will require testing of commercial flocks -- the ones who lay the eggs for market -- by 2001.
Even if salmonella bacteria are within the egg, they still have to gain access to the nutrient-rich yolk to multiply -- a process hindered when the egg is fresh and the yolk membrane is intact. At that stage, the number of bacteria is very small. Refrigeration provides additional protection by limiting bacterial growth and preventing the breakdown of the membrane. So your best bet is to buy fresh eggs -- check the sell-by date on the carton, if there is one -- and keep them in the fridge. Also, make sure to use them within four weeks of purchase.
In the rare chance that you do buy an egg contaminated with salmonella bacteria, there's some reassuring news: Cooking kills the bacteria. There is no way for you to know at home if the egg is contaminated -- the egg won't look, smell, or taste different from any other egg, says Marjorie Davidson, a food safety education expert at the FDA. Because of this, she recommends cooking all eggs thoroughly: Salmonella bacteria are killed at temperatures above 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Both the FDA and USDA recommend cooking raw (unpasteurized) eggs until the yolks and whites are completely firm.
Pasteurized eggs are available in test markets around the country for those who want to make, for example, a protein shake containing an uncooked egg or sunny-side-up eggs with a runny yolk. These eggs have been heated to 145 degrees Fahrenheit for three and a half minutes. Egg products in containers, such as Egg Beaters (essentially egg whites that have been colored), are also pasteurized.
Ok, so that's a lot of highlights... but it's a really good article![]()
Did you just skip right past the article I postedOriginally posted by cytrix
Th reason you should not eat raw egg whites (the yolks are ok to eat raw), is because there is something in egg whites that interferes with the absorption of a certain vitamin, I'm not sure right now which one.
Originally posted by butterfly
Did you just skip right past the article I posted![]()
Originally posted by The_Chicken_Daddy
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Mercola: It's important not to eat your egg whites raw because egg whites have a substance called avidin that will bind to biotin (a B vitamin) and can cause deficiencies over time. You can put the whites in a skillet with some water and put a lid on it and cook them over a very low heat so all the whites are solid white and not burnt.
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Originally posted by butterfly
Who is Mercola and what evidence does he base his theory on?