I hope you checked your egg cartons to see that they weren’t one of the 380 million recalled due to a Salmonella contamination and I hope you don’t know any of the thousands sickened by the habitual offender. A single producer is responsible for distributing eggs to at least 17 states under 143 different brands, packed in boxes of six, 12 and 18 eggs. Salmonella is spread most often by the consumption of food contaminated by animal fecal matter, according to health experts. FYI, millions of chickens are locked up and raised in battery cages, with no room to roam or defecate. Therefore, they end up biting and pooping on each other, which significantly increases chances of food-borne illness (amongst other ethical issues.) These unsafe eggs are just the beginning of the problem with how our food is brought to our tables. A nation of unsafe eggs is a nation of unsafe food, controlled by a few large agricultural factory farms. Factory farms raise livestock in complete confinement by “packing” in as many animals as possible per square foot. The result is cheap meat, poultry, eggs, and milk. The results are also human health dangers, animal health dangers, pollution, and destruction of biodiversity. Cheap food comes with a high cost to peoples’ health and the environment.
Images and videos highlighting the bigger issue behind recalled food and food security:
Michael Pollan, author Omnivore’s Dilemma and Food Rules, talks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta about the global issue here.
How Hens Are Confined- NYT visualization
Factory Farm Production Exposed –video, is this the kind of food you want to eat? Does this seem normal to you?
Egg Production Details– short read on how eggs are produced on a factory farm
How to find non-recalled or safe eggs:
-Farmer’s Markets– most farmer’s will even let you come to their farm and pick your own eggs or give you a tour!
-Smaller grocery stores that carry local, sustainable farm eggs
-Buy organic, cage-free (really cage-free), pastured eggs
-Make sure your your eggs come from small, local farms that raise their chickens outside of cages and treat them humanely.
-Avoid insanely cheap eggs, which means they were factory farmed and all of the chickens were raised in tiny cages, biting and pooping on each other and then transported to another factory to be sorted and packaged to sell at grocery stores around the nation.
Eat Safe!
Interesting/funny tweets regarding this massive egg recall:
Conan O’Brien: “The FDA egg recall has hit a total of 380 million eggs. I can’t wait till they find the tired, evil hen that did this”
schmuckraker “PSA for a recall age: This is an egg This is you after eating an egg Any questions? http://bit.ly/bi1ym6″
Battery-caged chickens
Pastured raised hen producing healthy eggs
Hi Nimisha how do we know if it is coming from right source?
Very appalling!
How about food (cakes, twinkles)
That contain eggs?
I hope you are not eating twinkies: http://www.eschlimanphoto.com/twinkie/37_or_so.php
🙂
Here is a list of all the brands that are recalled: http://bit.ly/9QBWJc
Products containing eggs from these sources, like cookie dough, are being recalled as well!
If you want to eat eggs and egg products, eat organic, locally sourced food. Get your eggs at the farmer’s market, eat cake, etc. that use organic, pastured, humanely raised eggs.
Eat Safe!
Be sure to ask the seller what their methods are and what ingredients they use. If they seem unsure about their answer, it may be best to skip it. Also, read the ingredient label if you are going for packaged food. If you can’t trace the ingredient back to it’s source, it might be wise to find a replacement.
This is scary. as someone who has contracted Salmonella in the past, I take this VERY VERY seriously. Not just now, ALWAYS! It is not an easy illness to kick.
No matter what kind of eggs you’re buying, organic or non-organic, always wash eggs thoroughly with soap and water and make sure you remove all the fecal matter that may be left behind on the egg shell.
Yasi, I am glad you are doing better now. Thank you for sharing these important tips!
Pingback: I Love Eating Eggs « Club Dine In!
Pingback: Make Our Food Edible « Club Dine In!
there are lots of cheap foods on the market that taste like crap but there are good quality ones too “