Is it true that before cooking the shell of chicken eggs, you need to wash so as not to get salmonelle?

There has been a dispute on the Internet for a long time: is it necessary to wash the eggs before cooking so as not to become infected with salmonellosis, or, conversely, this is not possible in any case? We checked how it is actually worth behaving with chicken eggs to reduce the risk of the disease.

Headings that chicken eggs must be washed before cooking, different publications are full - like "Arguments and Facts"so and "RIA Novosti". In all cases, such tips are built on the fact that chicken eggs can be infected with salmonelosis, which means that it is necessary to wash them before cooking, and even better to do it with soap:

“It should be borne in mind that Salmonell is the bearer of the mesh chickens, and not the eggs themselves. Thus, the causative agent of infection can only be on the shell. And if the egg is fresh and the shell is not damaged, then the danger is a contact with the shell, and not with the egg itself, - Quote "Arguments and Facts" by Mikhail Lebedev, an expert at the Center for Molecular Diagnostics of the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor. - Therefore, before preparing the egg, you must definitely wash with warm water and soap. Washing will not help if the egg itself turns out to be infected, and not just a shell. This is possible with damage to the shell, sometimes even invisible to the eye. And then heat treatment comes to the fore. You need to cook eggs at least 15 minutes from the moment of boiling, the scrambled eggs (or omelet) must be frying on both sides. ”

Salmonellosis is an acute intestinal infection caused by bacteria of the genus Salmonella. The main method of transmission in this infection is to a person through animal life products, including chicken eggs. Precisely because the bird is often involved in the transmission of this infection, and chicken eggs pose a special epidemiological danger, and the discussion flared up: wash or not wash?

In fact, although on different forums, V social networks And even in Media There are regular statements that the eggs must be washed before cooking, majority organizations to control the spread of diseases Recommend Do not do this. Paradoxically, it is because of possibilities infection with salmonellosis.

It's all about the shell of eggs. It has special protective mechanisms that prevent infections in the embryo. And when washing eggs, one of these layers is erased, exposing the eggs even more risk of infection.

In fact, infections in bird eggs are one of the main dangers for embryos. The shell of the eggs is permeated with pores, but through them not only air, but also microbes enters the embryo. Once on the egg shell, microbes multiply and penetrate inside. That is why the eggs are equipped with very strong protection means (exist Even the types of weeds that lay eggs in compost heaps, and they survive there, thanks to these mechanisms).

The protection of the egg is complex: it is protein, shell and cuticle on the surface of the shell. It is the cuticle when washing can collapse, opening the path into the eggs accumulated outside the microbes.

About how humanity has encountered this issue, in detail Writes In his book “The most perfect thing in the world. Inside and outside the chicken egg »Tim Berched. The problem of washing became known after, during the development of large egg production in the 1960s, the companies massively washed eggs, trying to remove the sources of infection from the shell before the goods hit the market. But the situation was only worse: precisely because the top layer of the shell was erased. “If the moisture temperature covering the shell is lower than the eggs itself, the microbes are delayed in the pores when the egg dries,” Berhead explains.

For the same reason, you should not wash the egg after you come from the store and are going to put them in the refrigerator. Instead of preventing egg infection, washing only contributes to it.

As a result, the problem in America was solved by creating a more complex washing and drying system (with different temperatures). And in the European Union, egg washing was banned from those considerations that, without being washed, they are safer. But from eating eggs with an apparently damaged shell, it is better to refrain: just microbes could get into it with a high probability.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Tim Berchedo. "The most perfect thing in the world." Chapter from the book
2. Who You Shoup Never Wash Fresh Eggs Before Cooking Them
3. Do I need to wash eggs before cooking: Expert's explanation
4. Antimicrobial shell