Yesterday evening I read a news story on an FDA recall of shell eggs. I usually ignore that kind of info, but it concerned over 200 million eggs shipped during a 10 day span from a single producer. That represents a staggering 20 million hens laying for a single company.
I clicked on a link, and scanned the lengthy list of brand names. Yup. Great Value Large Eggs. I had a full dozen that I bought four days ago. So I brought out the carton, and compared its barcode to the evil list. Yup. Guilty!
The problem is a possible Salmonella contamination. I already assume that every hen's egg on the planet is contaminated with Salmonella. You've got to eat live Salmonella to get sick from the bacterium. There is no lingering toxin. All eggs get cooked; all hands get washed. No exceptions!
The guidance said to immediately return the eggs to the store for a full refund. Well, my cheap eggs cost less that the gas it would require to obtain the refund. Choice: throw away 1 dozen fresh eggs OR hard boil a dozen eggs immediately. I chose the latter. A dozen eggs went into a pot, and were boiled for 20 minutes, cooled, then returned to the fridge in two half-cartons brightly marked, "HARD".
I mostly use egg for blending into my one-meal casseroles. Sometimes I use them in baking. Occasionally, I'll fry up an omelet or some over-easy eggs.
Within a week, I can probably consume 1/2 dozen hard boiled eggs if I pace myself. (Lunch: 1 hard boiled egg, a baby pickled beet, some cheese and salad dressing.) When I was still eating sandwiches, egg salad was always a possibility, but these days, I would probably be spooning it up like a chilled stew. If I go to the bother of making real, deviled eggs, I might slip into a binge mode, and suck down a 1/2 dozen halves at once.
How the hell does an industry say, "Oops!" about 200,000,000 eggs? Salmonella species grow out in culture in about 18 hours. It took them 10 days to notice. Nice work, boys.
Bob