You know over here in Europe we don’t have to refrigerate egg or wash slaughtered chicken in a chlorine bath. We use something called a vaccine that prevents salmonella in the first place
Yeah but if they did that, farmers would have to spend an extra couple of cents of their government subsidies per chicken and then the health insurance industry would make a load less money from exploiting people hospitalised with entirely avoidable illnesses…!
Genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if health insurance lobbying is part of the reason it’s this way
I get the cynicism, but the reality is that the system of washing eggs in the US was incredibly effective at reducing salmonella-related illness so we stuck with it. The data demonstrates both systems are about equally effective at preventing salmonella exposure. Similar salmonella outbreaks still happen in the EU’s system, too
We wash our eggs in Canada and the USA (and a few other places) for more than just salmonella. It’s mostly salmonella, but there are other bacterium and stuff that can be on the outside of the eggs after they roll around in chicken shit (hyperbolicly). The washing removes the protective bloom so we then have to refrigerate our eggs. In countries that don’t do this, you should still wash your eggs right before using them and your hands after handling them.
The extent of this particular recall indicates something happened in the packaging process that wouldn’t necessarily have been solved by vaccines. It seems like something got contaminated and then contaminated the eggs post washing. Vaccines would probably reduce the risk of having any contaminated surfaces (since there would be less chance of salmonella being brought in) but we don’t know the source of the contamination at this point.
You still get salmonella outbreaks and illness (from eggs and meat) in Europe. The vaccine isn’t 100% effective, there can be new strains, mishandled products, or even specific farms that get an infection and introduce it into the system. So just keep in mind that while the strategies are different both have been effective in reducing the amount of downstream illness (though it is slightly better in Europe, I believe).
You know over here in Europe we don’t have to refrigerate egg or wash slaughtered chicken in a chlorine bath. We use something called a vaccine that prevents salmonella in the first place
Yeah but if they did that, farmers would have to spend an extra couple of cents of their government subsidies per chicken and then the health insurance industry would make a load less money from exploiting people hospitalised with entirely avoidable illnesses…!
Genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if health insurance lobbying is part of the reason it’s this way
I get the cynicism, but the reality is that the system of washing eggs in the US was incredibly effective at reducing salmonella-related illness so we stuck with it. The data demonstrates both systems are about equally effective at preventing salmonella exposure. Similar salmonella outbreaks still happen in the EU’s system, too
Bro, there are hundreds of egg-related salmonella outbreaks across Europe every year.
I agree, mostly, but…
We wash our eggs in Canada and the USA (and a few other places) for more than just salmonella. It’s mostly salmonella, but there are other bacterium and stuff that can be on the outside of the eggs after they roll around in chicken shit (hyperbolicly). The washing removes the protective bloom so we then have to refrigerate our eggs. In countries that don’t do this, you should still wash your eggs right before using them and your hands after handling them.
The extent of this particular recall indicates something happened in the packaging process that wouldn’t necessarily have been solved by vaccines. It seems like something got contaminated and then contaminated the eggs post washing. Vaccines would probably reduce the risk of having any contaminated surfaces (since there would be less chance of salmonella being brought in) but we don’t know the source of the contamination at this point.
You still get salmonella outbreaks and illness (from eggs and meat) in Europe. The vaccine isn’t 100% effective, there can be new strains, mishandled products, or even specific farms that get an infection and introduce it into the system. So just keep in mind that while the strategies are different both have been effective in reducing the amount of downstream illness (though it is slightly better in Europe, I believe).