Bad Eggs can cause salmonella -- like recent outbreak in VIC backyard chickens

[Dave Riley]

I've been washing my eggs...and that's wrong.

• Families with small flocks of backyard chickens need to be aware of safe handling practices to minimise the chances of becoming sick
• The Department of Health and Human Services and Agriculture Victoria are investigating nine cases of salmonella enteritidis illness reported over the past two months
• Victoria's Deputy Chief Health Officer said people are at risk of becoming infected if they don't wash their hands after handling chickens or if they eat raw or under-cooked eggs

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[Doug Hanning]

I spray eggs with 1/2 listerine 1/2 water before they are kept for incubating. If eggs are for eating I just wipe them if they look grotty, I love eggs and must have eaten thousands of home grown ones and never beeen sick. I dont fondle the livestock though, they are not pets.

[Jeff Kiehne]

Decontamination of egg shells using ultraviolet light treatment

[Christa]

The grotty eggs can go in a planting hole in the ground for extra fertilizer.  I heard they can absorb smells in the fridge if left uncovered, is that true.  Maybe I won't have runny eggs anymore if they are risky. Scrambled eggs sounds good.

[Dave Riley]

In the context of Covid 19 --which is a zoonosis (caught from animals like most of our diseases) -- I've been reading Big Farms Make Big Flu: Dispatches on Influenza, Agribusiness, and... by Rob Wallace.

It's freaking me out.

Your backyard chickens and their eggs are gonna be so much healthier (for you,  the environment and the planet) than the chook factories. A vulnerability is mixing your chooks with wild birds -- but in the grand scheme of things in  backyard poultry, all that's required is common sense.

I've ALWAYS assumed chooks and their eggs carry salmonella and raw chicken fed to dogs  is gonna ensure that when Fido licks you so too comes the chance of salmonellosis.

So it pays to be careful and make sure you have preventative protocols in place.