Released April 10, 2009
MURFREESBORO, Ark. - For many people, Easter is a time to decorate eggs for the egg hunt. If your children plan to eat the eggs later, there are a few food safety tips to remember, says Robbie McKinnon, Pike County extension agent with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
"Every time an egg is handled, there's an increase in the chance for contamination by bacteria," she says. "Wash your hands thoroughly before handling any eggs and at every step of the process, including cooking, cooling, and dyeing. Wash all utensils, equipment and work areas that come in contact with raw eggs in hot, soapy water."
At the store, choose refrigerated Grade A or AA eggs with clean, un-cracked shells. Take the eggs straight home and store them immediately in the refrigerator, McKinnon advises.
If dying eggs, hard cook the eggs first by boiling at 160 degrees for 15 minutes. While salmonella is destroyed when hard-cooked eggs are properly prepared, these eggs can spoil more quickly than raw eggs. After cooking, cool hard-cooked eggs quickly under running cold water or in ice water and refrigerate immediately.
"After dyeing the eggs, return them to the refrigerator," she says. "If eggs are to be eaten, use a food-safe coloring. As with all foods, persons dyeing the eggs should wash their hands before handling the eggs."
It's important to remember that any dye used on eggs to be eaten should be warmer than the egg itself. Otherwise, the food coloring will have permeated the shell through osmosis. Bacteria can be carried along as well.
Hard-cooked eggs for an egg hunt must be prepared with care to prevent cracking the shells, according to McKinnon. If the shells crack, bacteria can contaminate the inside. Eggs should be hidden in places that are protected from dirt, pets and other sources of bacteria or lawn chemicals.
The total time for hiding and hunting eggs (time out of refrigeration) should not exceed two hours. The "found" eggs must be put back into the refrigerator to store until eaten. If any eggs crack while dyeing or while hiding, discard them along with any eggs that have been out of refrigeration for more than two hours.
"To be safe, hide plastic Easter eggs and make deviled eggs for the Easter lunch and dinner," McKinnon says. "As a child, my brothers and I enjoyed our play with our dyed eggs. It was a practice at our home, that we NEVER, EVER ate dyed Easter eggs. Of course, that was a decision that my mother enforced because we played with our eggs for days."
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http://www.uaex.edu/news/april2009/0410hard_boiled.htm
Contact: Lamar James, (501) 671-2187, ljames@uaex.edu
