Around Thanksgiving, the experts at the USDA Meat Poultry Hotline get mostly calls about Turkeys, but at this time of year, Meredith Carruthers with the hotline says “we’re starting to delve more into the egg world.” Of course, many families are planning on coloring and decorating eggs, or maybe having a little family Easter Egg Cup.
Carruthers has some words of caution about that if we intend to eat those eggs later on. Now you would think that, after boiling those eggs, they’d be totally devoid of any harmful bacteria and that a shell should keep the bacteria out of the egg. But “the shell itself is actually very porous.” according to Carruthers. “Things can pass through it, such as bacteria from the air, our hands, or anyplace, and that bacteria can multiply to sickening levels within just two hours at room temperature,”
She says those cooked eggs should go immediately into the fridge. If they have been out for more than two hours you should not eat them, especially if they’ve been used in an outdoor Easter egg hunt. Carruthers warns “not knowing what they come in contact with, it’s better just to not eat them.”
To find more food safety tips, call USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-88-MPHotline or visit fsis.usda.gov.
Source: USDA Radio