Yahoo Lifestyle With Bird Flu Cases Reaching Record Highs, Is It Safe to Eat Eggs?
Bird flu is running rampant among critters, and it's leading to egg shortages in supermarkets—and considering eggs were already super pricey compared to just a few years ago, it's hitting our wallets really hard—and people are being limited in some retailers to buying one dozen eggs at a time due to low quantities in stores.
That said, the cost of eggs isn't the only issue at stake with an avian flu epidemic: There are a lot of questions about whether eating eggs can get you sick amid the outbreak.
Is it safe to eat eggs? Can eating eggs give you bird flu? Here's what we know for sure at this moment about how safe eggs are in the current H5N1 outbreak.
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Is It Safe to Eat Eggs?
Rest easy: Eating eggs, when properly cooked, will probably not make you sick with bird flu.
"The bottom line is that if people are using good food-handling practices and fully cooking their eggs as recommended, then the risk is extremely low," environmental epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and veterinarian Dr. Meghan Davis, DVM, Ph.D., told The New York Times.
There are a few reasons for this: One, cooking eggs properly kills the bird flu virus (you'll want to get your eggs to an internal temperature of 165°F, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Two, eggs from birds infected with H5N1 are removed from the food supply. Three, the virus hasn't yet mutated into a form that can easily infect humans from properly cooked eggs as of this writing in early February 2025.
That said, don't eat raw eggs—and that includes sneaking bites of unbaked cookie dough—because that can not only increase your risk of bird flu (though to be clear, it's still low), but you can also get salmonella or other food-borne illnesses that way.
Related: These Are the Vaccine Side Effects You Should Worry About, According to Infectious Disease Experts
How Can I Protect Myself From Bird Flu?
The one good thing about H5N1 is that you can take measures to prevent it.
Look critically at health information versus misinformation.
The first thing you'll want to do is only get your health information from quality sources. While wellness influencers and even our current nominee for United States Secretary of Health and Human Services often promote things like raw milk and eschewing vaccines, listening to these individuals can get your sick or, in some cases, potentially killed.
Here's a good guide on how and when to trust health information you find online.
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Avoid raw milk
That said, you'll absolutely want to avoid raw milk, for starters: The CDC says pasteurization is key, because H5N1 can thrive in cow udders, and raw milk has been linked to a large outbreak of avian flu in California.
Exercise food safety precautions with meat.
You'll also want to exercise food safety when preparing poultry and meat. For safe ground beef, cook it to 160°F, and for whole cuts of beef, cook them to 145°F then let the meat rest for three minutes, the CDC advises.
Like eggs, you'll want to cook your poultry to 165°F to avoid bird flu or other illnesses. Also, be sure to keep raw meats, eggs and poultry away from other foods to prevent cross-contamination.
Wash your hands before and after handling eggs or any kind of raw meat, and always wash your hands before eating.
Related: This Is the Best Arm to Get Your Vaccine In, According to Infectious Disease Experts
Still worried? Opt for pasteurized eggs.
If you're concerned about the safety of eating eggs during the H5N1 outbreak, you can use pasteurized eggs. They can be harder to find in shells but are often available readily in liquid form at most grocery stores.
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