Are recalled eggs safe to bake with?

The egg recall is still going strong, with over 550 million eggs recalled so far. If you happen to have some eggs that were explicitly listed in the recall, you can simply return them to the store for some new eggs. But if you’re concerned that other eggs might have been affected and not discovered yet (as many people are), does that mean that you have to stop buying eggs, or only seek out small, local farmers whose eggs are probably ok? The answer is no, although looking for local farmers to supply your produce and other groceries is never a bad idea, because thoroughly cooking eggs makes them completely safe to eat.

I’ve seen several ads from the Egg Council reminding people that the whites and yolks of their eggs should be firm and fully cooked before eating. This makes it sound a bit like you should only eat fried eggs or hard boiled eggs, when in fact baking also results in fully cooked eggs. That means that, while you might not want to eat the raw batter, you can use eggs without fear in recipes like chocolate chip cookies, brownies and cakes. The time in the oven will fully cook the eggs in the batter and it is safe to bake even with recalled eggs.

That said, I would of course recommend returning any eggs that have definitely been recalled to the store you bought them from. If you’re still concerned about other eggs during the recall, you have a couple of other options, as well. The first is to use eggs that are pasteurized in the shell, like Davidson’s Eggs, which can be found at specialty markets. The second is to turn to recipes that don’t use eggs temporarily. And, of course, you’ll want to wash your hands thoroughly after handling both egg shells and egg whites/yolks.