Why Do My Eggs Have Salmonella in Them?

Pretty shocking information. Such a widespread issue and to effect eggs for the last 4 months!? How did that get by those food inspector people??
HOW did those eggs become infected? Doesn't the shell of the egg keep the dirt out?

Recalls for contaminated produce are becoming more and more common. In the past few years there have been recalls for tomatoes, cantaloupes, strawberries, spinach, lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, peanut butter and peanut products ... and those are not counting any MEAT recalls. The majority of these recalls are caused by food products becoming contaminated by contact, at some point in their journey to market, with bacteria born in dirt, feces or on contaminated machinery. Eggs are different.

While an egg CAN become contaminated with Salmonella or other contaminate by direct contact, the shell of the egg usually protects its contents. Egg shells that are cracked - even with very thin cracks - are open to contamination. That is why a cracked egg in your box should ALWAYS be thrown out and never used to eat or feed animals with. Those micro fine cracks are also why the FDA recommends that eggs never be consumed in a raw or undercooked state. You just never know for sure if the egg shell has cracks.

That is ONE way an egg can become contaminated, but obviously the egg producers in question have NOT tried to sell 550 million cracked eggs. NO the eggs being recalled are perfectly intact as far as the shell is concerned ... yet they are contaminated with Salmonella. How did those eggs get contaminated?

The answer is that the HEN that laid the eggs is sick with Salmonella!

Chickens can get Salmonella in many different ways. They can breath the bacteria in from dusty contaminated air, they can consume the bacteria in tainted feeds or catch it from another infected bird. Once they have Salmonella they pass the bacteria on via the egg yolk of their eggs. This is the kind of Salmonella that is infecting the eggs that are being recalled.

So WHY are sick birds allowed to continue to produce these eggs? Well FIRST you have to identify the fact that the bird IS SICK.

* Ruffled feathers - that is a symptom of all kinds of Salmonella, but in a commercial setting where chickens are crammed into the "67 to 86 inches per bird." recommended by United Egg Producers Certified Program - Egg Industry Welfare Guidelines, your feathers STAY pretty ruffled from constant rubbing on wire and each other.

* Yellow diarrhea (or white) - either way that is VERY hard to track when all waste is falling into a manure pit below the cages.

* Thirst and or * Inappetance, * Lost of appetite and thirst - With totally automated feeders and waterers. How would you notice a bird that is drinking excessively or not eating?

* Reluctance to move and or * Lameness - not much movement taking place when you only have at the top end 86 square inches to move around in.

* Loud chirping - in a house with thousands of other birds and giant loud air exchange fans, exactly what qualifies as loud?

* Dejection, * Depression, * Closed eyes - pressed together by the thousands with automatically controlled lighting. No real day or night. No sun or true darkness. How do you tell who is sick and who is sleeping? What is the criteria for depression in this situation?

* Vent pasting - With so many birds and so little room for them to move in it is very hard to detect a pasted vent.

* Gasping - or are they just hot? Take a quick look as you pass by on your daily inspections. You have lots of birds to look at this morning and no time to waste.

So diseased birds go undetected. They continue to churn out eggs filled with bacteria. Eggs that are then sent FAR and WIDE across the country. Just when was that first salmonella egg shipped? My bet is some time ago. These things take time to reach these proportions.

As for me ... I again know where my food is coming from. With my backyard hens I can look out in the yard and watch them scratch and play about the picture of health. If I ever DO have a bird become ill it will be easy to identify that she is sick and remove her from my flock.

With a commercial egg farm these things are hard to identify until it is too late.