Many shoppers routinely open a carton of eggs at the grocery store to check for cracks before buying them.But what if an egg cracks later in the car, or while being transferred to the refrigerator at home — is it still safe to eat?"The short answer is no.
Cracked eggs should be discarded," said Bill Marler, a food safety advocate and attorney based in Washington state."Cracked eggs allow Salmonella to enter and grow inside the egg," he told Fox News Digital."The risk is significant.
Cracked eggs are more likely to test positive for Salmonella than those with intact shells, even if the intact shells were dirty with feces."'I'M A HEART SURGEON, HERE'S WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT EGGS, YOUR HEART AND YOUR HEALTH'The size of the egg's crack and how long it's been there matter, according to Donald Schaffner, professor of food science at Rutgers University in New Jersey."If the crack is small, and it happened recently, the possibility of any bacterial spoilage would be small," Schaffner told Fox News Digital."If the crack is bigger, or it happened a long time ago, the possibility that bacteria have entered the egg and begun to spoil would be larger."People should check for cracked eggs in the carton before buying them and discarding any cracked ones later, said the CDC. (iStock)"The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommends discarding cracked or dirty eggs entirely," Marler added.Fully cooking an egg should eliminate any Salmonella risk, Schaffner said. Using newly cracked eggs in dishes that will be fully cooked is one option, he said.
In his home, he'll sometimes fully cook the eggs and feed them to his dogs.CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIES"There is a small possibility that other pathogenic bacteria, besides Salmonella, might get inside the egg and start to grow," he said."Some of these bacteria make heat-stable toxins that would not be destroyed by cooking, but I think this is a very unlikely possibility."Eggs are one of the leading sourc...