Is Eggnog Made With Raw Eggs Safe?

Article By Kristen V Brown Published December 18, 2022
Article Source: Is Eggnog Made With Raw Eggs Safe? - Bloomberg

What’s the scoop on raw egg?

Is homemade eggnog safe to drink? Just how risky is raw egg? Cathy, Chicago, Illinois

I have to admit, I was a little afraid to seek out an answer to this question. In my mind a raw yolk is one of life’s great luxuries. I love it in pasta, like in this Alison Roman classic. This Ottolenghi polenta with a soy-cured yolk is also on regular rotation in my house. But alas, this isn’t a cooking newsletter. So let’s get into it. 

The reason restaurant menus (at least in the US) often include that disclaimer about the dangers of consuming raw egg is there’s a chance you could be exposed to salmonella bacteria.

That type of infection “will make the holidays memorable for all the wrong reasons,” says Darin Detwiler, a food-safety expert at Northeastern University.

Salmonella can get on the shell of the egg if it comes into contact with bird droppings. It can also contaminate the egg’s contents before the shell is formed.

The bacteria can make anyone sick, he says, but more-vulnerable populations — such as the very young, elderly, immunocompromised or pregnant — are especially at risk for becoming severely ill, or even dying. 

“This is obviously of concern with large family gatherings,” Detwiler says. 

To be clear, this is pretty rare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that salmonella infections occur less frequently than even 20 years ago. The agency estimates there are some 1.35 million infections, 26,500 hospitalizations, and 420 deaths from the bacteria in the US every year.

For the vast majority of people it will present as what most of us think of as food poisoning — diarrhea, maybe a fever and some stomach cramps.

Refrigerating eggs can reduce risk, because it helps keep bacteria under control. By cooking eggs to 160℉, you’ll kill off any pathogens that remain. (In countries where eggs aren’t typically refrigerated, the thinking is that the spread of salmonella is reduced by vaccinating chickens and avoiding washing that can remove the shell’s protective coating.)

There are also alternatives to raw egg.

“Eggnog may be safely made at home by using egg substitutes, whole, liquid or pasteurized eggs,” Detwiler says. “These products need no further cooking to kill harmful bacteria.”

Pasteurized eggs are gently heated in their shells to a high-enough temperature to kill any bacteria without cooking the egg. They are pretty widely available, though the texture isn’t always exactly the same as an unpasteurized egg.  

If you are making eggnog the old-fashioned way, Detwiler has some advice for that, too.

“Cook the egg mixture to 160℉ and refrigerate it quickly in several small containers,” he says. “Then it will cool quickly.” — Kristen V. Brown