Salmonella Enteritidis is a bacterium that can be inside shell eggs. Cooking the egg or egg-containing food
product to an internal temperature of at least 160 F (71 C) kills the bacteria. Refrigerating will not kill the bacteria.
Other foods containing raw eggs, such as homemade ice cream, cake batter, mayonnaise, and eggnog, carry a
Salmonella risk too. Their commercial counterparts are usually made with pasteurized eggs; that is, eggs that have been
heated sufficiently to kill bacteria, and also may contain an acidifying agent that kills the bacteria.
The best practice, even when using products containing pasteurized eggs, is to eat the foods only as they are
intended to be eaten, so answer C, sampling the unbaked store-bought cookie dough, will not earn you any points.
Consider using pasteurized eggs for homemade recipes that do not include a cooking step, such as eggnog or
Caesar salad dressing. Pasteurized eggs are usually sold in the grocer's refrigerated dairy case.
Tips to ensure egg safety:
- Buy only refrigerated eggs, and keep them refrigerated until you are ready to cook and serve them.
- Cook eggs thoroughly until both the yolk and white are firm, not runny, and scramble until there is no visible liquid
egg.
- Cook pasta dishes and stuffings that contain eggs thoroughly.
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