April 12, 2006
Akron Beacon-Journal (OH)
Hard-cooked eggs in the shell once were considered so safe and bacteria-free that kids stored them in their Easter baskets and moms displayed them in a nest of plastic grass on the dining room buffet.
No more. We now know hard-cooked eggs should be handled as carefully as raw poultry. They should be stored in the refrigerator and left at room temperature for no longer than two hours max, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Scientists have found that high-protein foods such as eggs are perfect breeding grounds for bacteria when left at room temperature. Further prompting the push for egg safety was a new type of salmonella bacteria that started showing up in some raw in-shell eggs in the 1980s. The bacteria, salmonella enteritidis, was transferred directly from the hens to the eggs. The discovery resulted in a government recommendation to thoroughly cook eggs and to keep raw and cooked eggs chilled.Continue Reading Keeping cooked eggs safe to eat