Egg Safety

Although very few eggs—about 1 in 20,000 eggs—carry internal bacterial infection when they are laid, eggs can become contaminated through improper handling or cooking. Most often, Salmonella enteritidis bacteria, which can cause severe gastrointestinal illness, are found to be the culprit. The yolk is generally the point of infection, with the white almost never infected. Salmonella rarely causes fatalities in healthy adults but it can make them sick—and it can be extremely serious for infants and small children, pregnant women, the infirm, those with compromised immune systems, or the elderly.