Keep Food Safe Blog

Egg Safety and Eating Out

How can you make sure that eggs are safe when you’re eating out, especially with all of the egg recalls in the news?

According to the CDC, public health officials have identified 26 restaurants or “event clusters” where more than one ill person with Salmonella Enteritidis has eaten (that’s the type of Salmonella associated with the current egg recalls).

Some people, such as children, pregnant women, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems or debilitating illnesses, are at higher risk for a Salmonella infection and need to be particularly careful when eating out.

Here are some practical things that you can do to keep you and your family safe:

• Always ask your server whether the food contains raw or undercooked eggs. If so, find out if the eggs are pasteurized. If not, order something else. Some foods that may contain raw or undercooked eggs include:
  • Hollandaise sauce
  • Caesar salad dressing
  • Mayonnaise
  • Cold soufflés, chiffons, or mousses
  • Ice cream
  • Meringue-topped pies
  • Tiramisu
  • Certain ethnic dishes, such as Japanese sukiyaki or Korean bibimbap.
• If you order cooked eggs, make sure that they’re thoroughly cooked. Scrambled eggs should be firm, not runny. Fried, poached, boiled, or baked eggs should have firm whites and yolks.
• Avoid eating eggs at a buffet, since the eggs may be undercooked or may have been at room temperature for too long.
• If you plan to save leftovers to eat later, refrigerate egg dishes as soon as possible – always within two hours (or one hour if it’s a hot day).

If you think that you have become ill from eating recalled eggs, contact your health care provider. For more information, see Eggs and Egg Products.

Seafood from Open Gulf Waters Is Safe to Eat

With the ongoing reopening of Gulf fisheries, fishermen are going back to work and Americans can confidently and safely enjoy Gulf seafood again.

Consumers need to know that seafood from the Gulf of Mexico is safe and fishermen need to be able to sell their products with confidence. That’s why there’s a comprehensive, coordinated, and multi-agency program to ensure the safety of Gulf Coast seafood. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are working with other Federal agencies and state officials to closely monitor the situation and its potential impact on the safety of seafood.

Seafood from open waters is safe to eat. Here are the facts:

1. Every seafood sample from reopened waters has passed testing.
2. When waters were impacted by oil or at risk of being impacted by oil, they were closed to fisherman.
3. Areas considered for reopening must be free of oil before testing even starts.
4. Dispersants were not applied in areas that are opened for fishing, and tests of reopened waters do not show the presence of any dispersants.
5. FDA and NOAA test samples for oil and dispersants, and every sample from reopened waters has passed those tests.

Here are more resources to get the latest information on seafood safety:

From FDA.gov:

• FDA's Role In Seafood Safety
• Key Questions and Answers
• Seafood Safety and Dispersants Fact Sheet
• Reopening of Closed Waters Information by State

From NOAA.gov:

• NOAA’s Role in Seafood Safety
• NOAA, FDA, and Gulf Coast State Officials Affirm Commitment to Ensuring Safety of Gulf Coast Seafood
• Assessing Gulf Coast Seafood