Old eggs edible? H5N1 contaminated?

[Niko]

Prudent or Foolish? Time will tell, I suppose.

Eggs on your platter may have a history of bird flu
Kumar Anand

Ahmedabad, August 27: SUNDAY ho ya Monday, roz khao ande?, this might make egg lovers think twice. For, a number of eggs now available in the market belong to the bird-flu scare period, being brought out now by wholesellers who quietly hid them in cold storages and from State Poultry Department officials fearing that they would be destroyed. Poultry traders confirmed that at least 30 per cent of the eggs currently available in the State were hidden away in huge cold storages in February at the height of the bird-flu scare. Instead of suffering losses, many wholesellers decided to stash their existing stock at that time in cold storages. Also, taking advantage of the almost zero-demand for poultry products, they bought crores of eggs from small poultry farmers at 10 or 15 paise per egg and stowed them away.

??There was no bird-flu to begin with, neither was there any casualty following the infection of the virus, so what was wrong in preserving the eggs that were unnecessarily getting destroyed? It took time before the sale of eggs resumed properly,?? admits Siddique Andewala, who heads an egg traders association in Ahmedabad.

Director, Animal Husbandry and Poultry, R B Shukla, says that though many eggs in poultries in Uchchal area were destroyed, the department does not know what happened elsewhere. ??Along with culling, we had destroyed large number of eggs in Uchchal but cannot say what happened to eggs in other parts of the state,?? he said.

The eggs that were kept in cold storages then are now coming out into the market. There are chances that among the eggs that you are eating today, 30 percent happens to be of the time when the State Government was destroying eggs in flu-affected Uchchal. While the small poultry farm owners had to incur heavy loss following this, the eggs stacked in cold storages ensured the big egg traders happily made their way to the bank.

By Siddiqui?s own admission, some 30 percent of eggs are still stacked in these cold storages which also accounted for a control in their price.

Large number of cold storages across the state were booked. In the city alone, some five cold storages with a large storage capacity were brimming with the crores of eggs bought from small traders, who happened to be the worst hit lot in the bird-flu episode. ??Traders invested in eggs like never before. One egg was bought at the cost of 10 to 15 paise from poultry farm owners who were threatened with a complete loss of eggs, which is now sold at Re 1 and 30 paise, earning heavy profit,?? informs a local poultry farm owner whose business was heavily hit following the bird-flu scare.

Siddique admits to have bought some one crore and 23 lakh eggs and stacked them in a cold storage in the city. To store such a large number of eggs, these traders bought special paper egg tray instead of the usual plastic tray that costs much higher. ??It was not possible to store such a large number of eggs in plastic crates as it could have cost too much for too large eggs. We bought a large number of egg trays from outside the state,?? Siddique further admits.

The trays were bought in from cities like Delhi and Hyderabad to safely preserve large quantities of eggs a large part of which still survives and are available to the egg-lovers.

Government officials claimed no eggs from bird-flu infested regions were preserved. The National Eggs Coordination Committee Marketing Officer in the state, Harshad Sharma harping on the same line accepted this happened in many parts of the state, affecting small poultry farm owners. ??Eggs were stacked in parts of Gujarat but to my knowledge all are spent,?? he said.

Although Gujarat does not account for a large number of egg production in the state, the state contributes some 2.5 million eggs per day in a growing egg industry in the country.

The birdflu scare happened in February when the fear of H5N1 virus was stalking every part of the state and the Government went into an overdrive to destroy chicken and eggs following the trace of the deadly H5N1 virus from samples taken from some poultry farms in Surat district.

STORY IN AN EGGSHELL
* Demand low, crores of eggs were bought from small poultry farmers at 10 or 15 paise per egg
* There was no bird flu, neither was there any casualty, so what was wrong in preserving the eggs, ask traders

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=198633

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Eggs on your platter may have a history of bird flu

Re: Eggs on your platter may have a history of bird flu

Niko - Thanks for posting.

Eggs from February? Won't they look and smell bad no matter how long they have been in "cold" storage? Is this article valid?

 

[Niko]

Re: Old eggs edible? H5N1 contaminated?

Maybe not up to publishing in any scientific journals, but I did find an experiment published in Mother Earth News:

The very best way we've found to stash eggs away for long-term storage is in a sealed container at a temperature of 35? to 40?F. Their whites may become somewhat runny looking over a period of time, but even after seven months?the cackleberries stored in this manner smell good, taste good, have a good texture, and?in short?seem "almost fresh".

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Livestock_and_Farming/1977_November_December/Can_You_Really_Store_Fresh_Eggs_a_Year_or_More_Without_Refrigeration

I'll try to check for more sources later.

 

[Niko]

Re: Old eggs edible? H5N1 contaminated?

Per the University of Missouri Extension website:

Eggs can be stored for 2 to 3 weeks covered in the refrigerator, so freezing is usually unnecessary. If you have an excess of fresh eggs, however, freezing is the best way to preserve them. They cannot be frozen in the shell because expansion of the white and yolk will cause the shell to break. Hard-cooked eggs cannot be frozen because the white becomes rubbery. The recommended length of freezer storage for frozen eggs is 9 to 12 months.

http://muextension.missouri.edu/explore/hesguide/foodnut/gh1504.htm

 

[Niko]

India dispatches egg shipment after becoming bird flu free

India dispatches egg shipment after becoming bird flu free

The Financial Express

India dispatches egg shipment after becoming bird flu free

Jaishankar Jayaramiah

Bangalore, Aug 28
India has resumed egg exports by dispatching its first egg shipment to Muscat after the country declared itself free from Bird flu, trade sources said.

All world countries had stopped importing eggs from India after the country witnessed bird-flu outbreak in Maharashtra during last February. However, the Union government took various steps including culling lakhs of birds to check the outbreak and succeeded.

Subsequently in the second week of August, the Indian government has declared that the country was free from the bird-flu and the same was intimated to World Organisation of Animal Health (OIE), also known as Organisation of International Epidemia, an intergovernmental organisation where 167 countries including India are members.

Following this, OIE has intimated all its member countries by publishing the Indian government?s ?birdflu-free status? claim report on August 17 on its website, paving way for India restarting its egg exports after a gap of six months, said All India

Poultry Products Exporters Association (AIPPEA) general secretary P Valsan to FE.

Valsan said that, Oman (Muscat) was the first country that evinced interest in re-starting egg imports from India after the coutry?s ?bird flu ? free? status.

He said the Indian poultry industry has dispatched two containers of eggs (4.72 lakh eggs per container) to Muscat through Tuticorin port last week.

Following Oman lifting egg ban on India, he said that other Arabian countries including Dubai and Qatar also have initiated negotiations with the

Indian poultry industry for egg imports. He said that the country would export minimum nine containers of eggs daily in near future.

Hoping for regular orders from outside countries, the Indian poultry industry is gearing up to increase the table egg production in the weeks to come.

However, Valsan said that the egg prices also have been surging after the country resumed egg exports after six months.

Currently, the egg prices jumped to Rs 1.30 from 1.20 and is expected to increase by 20 paise per unit in a month?s time. Before the birdflu outbreak, India was exporting 3.6 lakh eggs every day, primarily to Gulf countries.

URL: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=138718

? 2005: Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd. All rights reserved throughout the world.

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Old eggs edible? H5N1 contaminated?

Thanks Niko for everything.