Can You Kill Salmonella in Eggs Without Cooking Them? I Tried It

不加热能杀死鸡蛋里的沙门氏菌吗？我试了一下

It may finally be safe to eat lettuce again after June’s horrifying—and bagged-salad-trust-destroying—cyclospora outbreak. But the summer of ’26’s foodborne illness train rolls on with a new rash of recalls: for salmonella. 在经历了六月份那场令人恐惧、且摧毁了人们对袋装沙拉信任的圆孢子虫（cyclospora）疫情后，生菜或许终于可以安全食用了。然而，2026年夏季的食源性疾病风波并未平息，一系列新的召回事件接踵而至：这次是因为沙门氏菌。

The FDA has reported multi-state salmonella bacteria outbreaks tied to jalapeños, granola, dog food, alfalfa sprouts (also featuring E. coli), and something most people probably have in their refrigerator at this very minute: eggs. 美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）报告称，多个州爆发了与墨西哥辣椒、格兰诺拉麦片、狗粮、苜蓿芽（同时也检测出大肠杆菌）以及大多数人此刻冰箱里可能都有的东西——鸡蛋——有关的沙门氏菌疫情。

Though the eggs being recalled are only from one supplier, Midwest Poultry Services, they were sold under five brand names, including two distributed by one of the country’s largest grocery chains: Kroger and Simple Truth. While this July recall only concerned Kroger stores in Texas, why wait for the next one? 虽然被召回的鸡蛋仅来自单一供应商 Midwest Poultry Services，但它们以五个品牌名称销售，其中包括由美国最大的连锁超市之一 Kroger 及其自有品牌 Simple Truth 分销的两个品牌。虽然今年七月的召回仅涉及德克萨斯州的 Kroger 门店，但为什么要等到下一次召回呢？

With the advice of two infectious disease experts, I tested what may be the easiest, most universally applicable way to ensure the eggs in your refrigerator are salmonella-free and safe to use—even in raw or near-raw preparations like Hollandaise and pasta carbonara. All it requires is an immersion circulator, a pot of water, and about an hour and a half of your day. 在两位传染病专家的建议下，我测试了一种可能是最简单、最通用的方法，以确保你冰箱里的鸡蛋不含沙门氏菌且可以安全食用——即使是在制作荷兰酱（Hollandaise）或培根蛋酱意面（pasta carbonara）等生食或半生食料理时。你只需要一台低温慢煮循环机（immersion circulator）、一锅水，以及大约一个半小时的时间。

Are All Eggs at Risk?

所有鸡蛋都有风险吗？

Salmonella, which can cause fever and severe diarrhea, is not a new problem for eggs. In fact, “eggs remain the single food commodity most associated with outbreak illnesses,” says Alan Bulbin, director of infectious disease at Catholic Health’s St. Francis Hospital and Heart Center in Roslyn, New York. 沙门氏菌会导致发烧和严重腹泻，这对鸡蛋来说并不是什么新问题。事实上，纽约州罗斯林市天主教健康圣弗朗西斯医院和心脏中心传染病主任艾伦·布尔宾（Alan Bulbin）表示：“鸡蛋仍然是与疾病爆发关联度最高的单一食品。”

Chickens and other poultry commonly carry Salmonella enteritidis, the bacterium most commonly responsible for salmonellosis in people, which can be transferred to the shell from contact with droppings or even deposited inside the egg itself from an infected chicken’s ovaries. 鸡和其他家禽通常携带肠炎沙门氏菌（Salmonella enteritidis），这是导致人类沙门氏菌病最常见的细菌。这种细菌可以通过接触粪便转移到蛋壳上，甚至可能从受感染鸡只的卵巢直接进入鸡蛋内部。

It’s difficult to tell just by looking if a chicken has salmonella, which is easily transmitted by rodents or wild birds. In fact, at one point, the USDA estimated that 1 out of every 20,000 eggs was thought to be contaminated with salmonella. That means out of the 67 billion eggs produced in the US each year, 3 million eggs could conceivably have dangerous bacteria in or on them. The USDA enacted a 72-page egg safety requirement in 2009 in hopes of eradicating contamination, but clearly, it hasn’t happened. 仅凭肉眼很难判断一只鸡是否携带沙门氏菌，而这种细菌很容易通过啮齿动物或野生鸟类传播。事实上，美国农业部（USDA）曾估计，每 20,000 个鸡蛋中就有 1 个可能被沙门氏菌污染。这意味着在美国每年生产的 670 亿个鸡蛋中，可能有 300 万个鸡蛋内部或表面带有危险细菌。美国农业部在 2009 年颁布了一项长达 72 页的鸡蛋安全要求，旨在根除污染，但显然，这并没有实现。

It’s good practice to always keep your eggs refrigerated at 42 degrees Fahrenheit or less and wash your hands before and after handling. It’s also worth noting that cooking eggs kills salmonella bacteria. As long as your eggs are “cooked thoroughly, with a firm yolk and white,” according to Bulbin, salmonella shouldn’t be a concern. 保持鸡蛋在华氏 42 度（约摄氏 5.5 度）或以下冷藏，并在处理前后洗手，是一个良好的习惯。同样值得注意的是，烹饪鸡蛋可以杀死沙门氏菌。布尔宾表示，只要鸡蛋“彻底煮熟，蛋黄和蛋白都凝固”，沙门氏菌就不应成为问题。

The Raw Truth

关于生食的真相

But what if you (like me) have kids who cook for themselves, who you know for a fact will never wash their hands after handling eggs? And more commonly, what if you’re not fully cooking the eggs? Many recipes, from mayonnaise and aiolis to eggnog and royal icing for cookies, call for eggs that will be consumed uncooked. How can you make sure they’re safe to use? 但如果你（像我一样）有自己做饭的孩子，而且你很清楚他们处理完鸡蛋后绝不会洗手，那该怎么办？更常见的情况是，如果你没有把鸡蛋完全煮熟呢？许多食谱，从蛋黄酱（mayonnaise）和大蒜蛋黄酱（aiolis）到蛋酒（eggnog）和饼干用的糖霜（royal icing），都需要使用未经烹饪的鸡蛋。你如何确保它们可以安全食用？

While in-shell eggs aren’t pasteurized, all liquid eggs are—the kind in the carton. However, these are just egg whites, not yolks, which means they won’t work for many of the above recipes. 虽然带壳鸡蛋没有经过巴氏杀菌，但所有盒装的液体蛋液都经过了巴氏杀菌。然而，这些通常只有蛋白，没有蛋黄，这意味着它们无法用于上述许多食谱。

If you want to be certain a whole, raw shell egg is free of bacteria, the only way to ensure this is to pasteurize it, which means heating the egg for a long period of time at 130 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, but not cooking it. Because this is tricky, the vast majority of eggs sold in the US are not pasteurized—if they are, you’ll know it, as they’re more expensive and the carton will indicate as much. 如果你想确保一个完整的生鸡蛋不含细菌，唯一的方法就是对其进行巴氏杀菌，这意味着在华氏 130 到 140 度（约摄氏 54 到 60 度）的温度下长时间加热，但不能将其煮熟。由于这很难操作，美国销售的绝大多数鸡蛋都没有经过巴氏杀菌——如果经过了，你通常会知道，因为它们更贵，且包装盒上会有明确标注。

However, there is a way you can pasteurize your own eggs at home—any store-bought eggs, or ones from your backyard flock—with a simple kitchen tool that happens to also make a mean steak or vegetable side dish. 不过，有一种方法可以在家里对鸡蛋进行巴氏杀菌——无论是超市买的还是自家养的鸡下的蛋——只需一个简单的厨房工具，而这个工具恰好还能做出美味的牛排或蔬菜配菜。

Sous vide immersion circulators actually originated in laboratory settings as a way to incubate cultures and sterilize testing equipment, but chefs discovered them in the 1970s and ’80s as a solution to easily overcooked foods like vegetables and chicken. Vacuum-sealing a chicken breast and letting it cook gently in a water bath, results in meat that stays juicy and tender instead of stringy or rubbery. 低温慢煮循环机最初起源于实验室环境，用于培养菌种和消毒测试设备。但在 20 世纪 70 年代和 80 年代，厨师们发现它们可以解决蔬菜和鸡肉等食物容易煮过头的问题。将鸡胸肉真空密封并在水浴中温和烹饪，可以使肉质保持多汁鲜嫩，而不是变得干柴或像橡胶一样。

Part of the challenge with pasteurization is maintaining a precise and consistent temperature without producing a hard- or soft-boiled egg, since eggs cook quickly. (It’s also worth noting that pasteurizing eggs denatures the proteins, and so will affect egg whites’ performance—don’t expect to be making any pasteurized-egg soufflés or pavlovas.) 巴氏杀菌的部分挑战在于，由于鸡蛋熟得很快，必须在保持精确且恒定温度的同时，避免将其煮成水煮蛋（无论是溏心还是全熟）。（同样值得注意的是，巴氏杀菌会使蛋白质变性，从而影响蛋白的性能——不要指望用巴氏杀菌后的鸡蛋制作舒芙蕾或蛋白霜蛋糕。）

I attempted to pasteurize some eggs I bought at Costco using the 3.0 immersion circulator model from Anova. Though Bulbin said he does not have direct experience with an immersion circulator, he added that it is possible to use it to kill salmonella if used for long enough. “If used correctly,” says Bulbin, “salmonella can be killed in eggs; however, the egg center must be maintained at a similar temperature to pasteurization (135 degrees) for close to one hour. The ‘come up’ time for the circulator to reach the appropriate temperature does not count and will not kill salmonella.” 我尝试使用 Anova 的 3.0 型号低温慢煮循环机对我从 Costco 买的鸡蛋进行巴氏杀菌。虽然布尔宾表示他没有使用低温慢煮循环机的直接经验，但他补充说，如果使用时间足够长，确实可以用它来杀死沙门氏菌。“如果使用得当，”布尔宾说，“鸡蛋里的沙门氏菌是可以被杀死的；但是，鸡蛋中心必须保持在与巴氏杀菌相似的温度（135 华氏度/约 57 摄氏度）下近一个小时。循环机达到适当温度的‘升温时间’不计入在内，这段时间无法杀死沙门氏菌。”

Sous Vide Solution

低温慢煮解决方案

With this “come up” time in mind, I set the eggs’ time in the circulator bath for 90 minutes—the same time recommended by Anova and Serious Eats, and deemed “sufficient” by Kristin Burkholder, a microbiologist and assistant academic director at the University of New England’s School of Biological Sciences. “We can say that sous vide process will make eggs safer for human consumption.” 考虑到这段“升温时间”，我将鸡蛋在循环水浴中的时间设定为 90 分钟——这是 Anova 和 Serious Eats 推荐的时间，也被新英格兰大学生物科学学院的微生物学家兼助理学术主任克里斯汀·伯克霍尔德（Kristin Burkholder）认为是“足够”的。“我们可以说，低温慢煮过程会让鸡蛋对人类食用来说更安全。”