In the United States, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) lays regulations for
how food products should be produced and processed to ensure food safety.
The United States Food And Drug Administration (FDA), on the other hand, determines best
food consumption practices to minimize health problem.
Ironically, they also determine how many rat hair should be allowed in peanut butter and
how much of rat feces should be permitted in your spices and cigarette butt in your
sandwich.
Unless you find more than -
30 insects fragments or 1 rodent hair per 100g of peanut butter
9 mg of rodent poop per kg of wheat 75 mites per 100g of dried mushrooms
1 maggot per 100g of tomato juice and 13 insects head every 100 grams of fig
paste
- FPS expect you to compromise with the situation because.... well.... no food practice is perfect,
humans make mistakes, restricting food laws will increase food prices and bugs are not
that gross.
Some of them are quite healthy.
At the same time, USDA has laid guidelines for how commercial eggs should be produced,
processed and stored to make sure eggs remain safe for public consumption.
The UK has their own regulations BUT their regulations are quite opposite to those in
the US making it illegal for eggs produced in the UK to be sold in the US and those produced
in the US to be sold in the UK.
But if guidelines in both the cases are made for food safety and public interest, why are
they contrasting to one another?
Which one of them is the right practice?
Or both of them are equally good?
In the case of American eggs, USDA requires its egg producers egg farms to properly wash
and sanitize their eggs before they reach consumers in order to remove any dirt and
feces on the exterior of eggs.
These contaminants are bacterial in nature and may pose a food safety threat when they
enter a kitchen environment, for instance, one may crack open an egg then proceed to
prepare a sandwich with those bacteria-riddled hands.
Also, egg shells are porous, there's is a possibility of microbes leaking inside the
egg.
As per the regulation, eggs are washed with warm water at least 20*F warmer than the internal
temperature of the eggs and at a minimum of 90*F. A detergent that won't impart any foreign
odors to the eggs is also used.
After washing, the eggs are rinsed with a warm water spray containing a chemical sanitizer
to remove any remaining bacteria and then they are dried to remove excess moisture.
Every step of this whole process is scientifically designed and must be executed as it is with
extreme care otherwise this procedure can lead to more damage than good.
For example, drying of eggs is crucial because a dry eggshell acts as a barrier to bacterial
intrusion while the presence of moisture makes the shell more permeable exposing it to pathogen
attack.
Furthermore, moisture, itself, may act as a medium for bacterial growth and water provides
an excellent vehicle for pathogens such as salmonella.
The temperature of warm washing water must be regulated carefully otherwise water colder
than egg could cause the contents of the egg to contract, sucking polluted water in through
the shell.
Results may get worse if a facility is not careful enough to regularly change the washing
water and eggs are left to sit in the dirty bath.
With such high risk of bacteria, if cleaned improperly, the UK (and almost all of world
except the US) believes eggs should not be washed or cleaned before they're sold to consumers.
As far as dirty eggs are concerned, EU egg marketing law encourages good husbandry on
farms.
Because eggs can't be cleaned or washed, it's in farmers best interests then to produce
cleanest eggs possible as no one is going to buy their eggs if they're dirty.
This may not sound too convincing to you but there's more to it.
An egg carries a thin layer of coating on its outer surface called "cuticle".
This layer naturally protects eggs from almost all contamination and also keeps the eggs
fresh for longer periods.
Washing eggs damage most of this protective layer and makes them vulnerable to contamination
from pathogens and other microorganisms.
In absence of washing, an egg is capable of protecting itself naturally and if care if
care is taken while handling eggs, the contamination of kitchen environment can also be eliminated.
The UK, thus believes that a little care is better than huge risk and cost of washing
eggs.
Another thing that makes British eggs and American eggs different is how they're stored.
In the UK and almost everywhere in Europe, you can see eggs sitting in unrefrigerated
shelves of supermarkets.
The EU regulation stipulates that eggs should in general not be refrigerated before selling
to the final consumer.
Chilled eggs, when left outside at room temperature (during transit between supermarket and consumer's
home), may sweat and form moisture on its surface facilitating the growth of bacteria
and probably their ingression into the egg.
The American system, on the other hand, instructs its seller to refrigerate eggs under 40*F
in order to decrease the risk of Salmonella.
Salmonella isn't a big problem in the UK because European farmers have been vaccinating their
hens against salmonella sie 1990s and have got good results.
Vaccination in the US is not a common practice.
American and British eggs taste significantly different because of the difference in how
they're processed and stored.
But how would you know?
British eggs can't be sold in the US and the US ones in the UK.