You’re up to make your breakfast for your family. So you crack open an egg, but to your surprise, there’s blood. Would you still fry it? Is it safe to eat eggs with blood spots?
From the egg farm
For consumers, it is not common to see an egg with blood, in the yolk, particularly. But for chicken raisers, it is a common sight.
Before these eggs go from the farm to places like restaurants, supermarkets, hotels and convenience stores, eggs are first sorted out or candled.
When candling, they use bright lights to see through the eggs for any of these irregularities or defects like oversized eggs, undersized eggs, deformed eggs, cracked eggs, and eggs with blood spots. This way, eggs that have these irregularities or defects are rejected. Let’s just say Class A goes to classy restaurant kitchens and Class C goes as animal feed.
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This is the reason why farm-fresh eggs that contain blood spots are more common that those store-bought eggs.
What caused it?
The blood spot that you see in eggs is damaged blood vessel that is usually caused by when the hen was startled during laying or during formation of the egg. It may also occur if the hen was handled improperly.
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Some people would say blood in the egg is a sign that the egg is fertilized. Actually, fertilized or not, eggs have blood vessels in them. These blood vessels serve to transport nutrients to a chick embryo. But in the case of very visible blood spot in the egg, it doesn’t automatically mean it is fertilized.
Further reading: How To Tell The Freshness Of Eggs
Is it safe to eggs with blood?
At first, you may be hesitant to still fry an egg with visible blood spots. But consuming one is perfectly safe according to USDA. But you may want to remove the blood spots first, if you wish. And make sure to cook your eggs properly. Under cooked eggs may lead to salmonella poisoning or salmonellosis.
