HERB - Mint, yet again!

[Gaylin Walli]

Sunshinegirl wrote:
>Why would salmonella stick to the yolk?  I have always been told that
>salmonella and raw eggs is more of a matter of exterior contaminents on the
>shell that come in contact with the egg when the shell is broken.

I fear I must correct myself slightly, but first let me answer your
question.

Salmonella can indeed start with exterior contaminents
on the shell. However, even the sanitizing process that commercially
sold eggs are required to go through does not completely eliminate
the bacterial organism that causes salmonellosis poisoning. If
prepared in small home-like quantities, the FDA believes that
normal safe handling procedures (including using eggs soon
after purchase, keeping them refrigerated under 40 degrees, not
breaking all your eggs from the shell and then letting them sit
for any length of time) will eliminate the majority of risk
factors causing outbreaks of salmonellosis poisoning.

Current research *suggests* that the Salmonella enteritidis bacteria
causing the vast majority of existing outbreaks of salmonellosis
comes from inside the egg as passed from chicken to egg prior to
shell formation and egg laying. I say suggest because the researchers
simply aren't sure how the bacteria is passed; they simply suspect.

My correction is thus: I said that only the yolk is the place where
the Salmonella enteritidis bacteria exists. This is not quite true and
I apologize for the misinformation. According to the FDA, the
bacteria exists in the yolk the vast majority of the time. In fact,
many research studies have had a difficult time tracking the existence of
the bacteria in the white at all. However, even though the raw white
of the egg does not readily support the growth of bacteria, the FDA
states that the bacteria can exist in the white in an extremely low
number of situtations. They also say, that if all other safe handling
instructions are followed, the likelihood of the bacteria existing in
an egg white is ridiculously small.

If you are interested in the history of the discovery and the
current research concerning either salmonellosis or the
Salmonella enteritidis bacteria, I can point you (or anyone on
the list) to the online sources that I've accessed in
researching this information.

Jasmine de Cordoba, Midrealm
g.walli at infoengine.com or jasmine at infoengine.com

"Si enim alicui placet mea devotio, gaudebo; si autem
nulli placet, memet ipsam tamen juvat quod feci."
-- Hroswith of Gandersheim
============================================================================
Go to http://www.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.