WISCONSIN Here's a hard-boiled truth about the annual ritual of Easter egg hunts: If you're not careful, you could expose the kiddos to salmonella food poisoning.
If you're dyeing Easter eggs and storing them in the refrigerator like any other hard-boiled egg, you can eat them for up to a week afterward as long as you've used food-safe dyes or food coloring, according to the American Egg Board.
But if you're decorating and hiding them, enjoy their beauty but not their taste.
About 1 in every 20,000 eggs is contaminated with salmonella, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and there's no way to know by looking at the eggs which ones might have the bacteria lurking in them.If they do contain Subscribe
Some important considerations:
In some cultures and Easter traditions, the egg whites and yolks are blown out of the shell. If you're blowing out an egg, follow these tips from the USDA and Jessi Wohlwend on her DIY blog, Practically Functional:
The USDA frowns on eating eggs used for hunting but says if the intent is to have the kids eat them, the eggs should be hidden in places that are free of dirt, moisture, pets and other sources of bacteria. Keep in mind, too, that eggs in the dirt can pick up bacteria from the soil, especially if the shells are cracked.
The total "hide and hunt time" should never exceed two hours, the USDA says. Found eggs should be washed, put back in the refrigerator and eaten within seven days of the date they were boiled.
The agency would rather folks boil two sets of eggs one for eating and the other for decorating and hiding or use plastic eggs in the hunt.Salmonella illnesses are unpleasant, but usually not life-threatening except in some cases of people with weakened immune systems, adults 65 and older and children 5 and younger, the CDC says. In most cases, the illness will last four to seven days of eating the contaminated food, with symptoms including diarrhea, vomiting, fever and abdominal cramps.Here are some facts about eggs in general from the American Egg Board:
Want to know how to peel a hard-boiled egg without damaging the whites? Check this out from the American Egg Board:
Originally posted here:
How Long Are Hard-Boiled Easter Eggs Safe To Eat? - Patch.com
