Eating Raw Eggs on Rice for Breakfast

Pointing to the Japanese practice of eating raw eggs with little to no consequence, Lisa Katayama questions whether American safety warnings may be exaggerated.  “There’s a 1 in 20,000 chance that an egg might contain salmonella, according to the American Egg Board,” she writes, a risk she wonders whether people ought to be willing to take.

Raw eggs are a great source of Vitamins B12 and D; they also have tons of protein. If you’re willing to see past the USDA warning and try it, I highly recommend making tamago kake gohan — raw egg on rice — for breakfast.

I guess to understand the worth of the risk, we also have to understand the symptoms and possible effects of salmonella.  Besides hearing a lot about it on Clorox and Mr. Clean commercials, I have never really researched the symptoms and effects of salmonella, so here they are (according to www.about-salmonella.com):

An infectious dose of Salmonella is small, probably from 15 to 20 cells.  Typically, non-typhoidal Salmonella produces a self-limiting febrile gastrointestinal illness that is indistinguishable from that caused by other bacterial enteric pathogens. Dehydration is the principal clinical concern. The incubation period – the time between ingestion of Salmonella bacteria and the onset of illness – varies from six to 72 hours (Mayo Clinic, 2007, April 12; MMWR Recomm Rep, 2001).

Salmonella can cause three different kinds of illness:  gastroenteritis, typhoid fever, and bacteremia.

Symptoms of Salmonella gastroenteritis include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, fever, nausea, and/or vomiting. In mild cases diarrhea may be non-bloody, occur several times per day, and not be very voluminous; in severe cases it may be frequent, bloody and/or mucoid, and of high volume.

Fever generally occurs in the 100°F to 102°F (38°C to 39°C) range. Vomiting is less common than diarrhea. Headaches, myalgias (muscle pain), and arthralgias (joint pain) are often reported as well. Whereas the diarrhea typically lasts 24 to 72 hours, patients often report fatigue and other nonspecific symptoms lasting 7 days or longer.

Still, in particularly bad cases, salmonella can morph into other worse conditions.  Can it lead to death?  Silly as it sounds, yes it can.  About 600 people die every in the U.S. from salmonella infection, adding up to 31 percent of food-related deaths, which in the big scheme of things isn’t that many.*  Of course, if one of those people turned out to be you or your family member, you might feel differently.

So what do you think?  Is there a difference between eating raw eggs in Japan and eating them in America?  Are we overly cautious?   Should we throw caution to the wind and slurp up the runny, eggy insides like the best of them?

*Not too many people seem to die from food-related illnesses here anymore.  This really is a testament to the stringent  screening process food goes through in the country before it reaches the consumer.