Wash hands after touching eggs: Food agency warns of salmonella outbreak

Food safety authorities on Wednesday warned people to wash hands promptly after handling or cooking raw eggs, citing food poisoning risks from Salmonella, a harmful bacterium found in poultry and mammal intestines.

There have been numerous cases of food poisoning caused by cross-contamination, where individuals handle eggs and then fail to wash their hands before cooking food or touching other cooking utensils, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

Eggs should be refrigerated and cooked until both the yolk and white are firm. Cracked eggs should be discarded and different chopping boards, trays, utensils, and plates should be used when preparing raw foods, it added.

“Each summer season, we see a number of patients due to acute salmonellosis caused by food poisoning, but this can be avoided through careful food preparation and storage,” the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said in a statement.

In the last five years, from 2018 to 2022, 7,400 people suffered food poisoning caused by salmonella bacteria. Two-thirds of them fell ill in the summer season, from June to September.

Salmonella is the most common cause of food poisoning in the summer, as around 37 degrees Celsius is the optimum temperature for the bacteria's growth. The most common causes are eating food containing raw or undercooked eggs and not carefully separating raw food from cooked food, especially chicken and poultry.

Salmonella infection has symptoms such as diarrhea, fever, headache, nausea, vomiting and severe stomach cramps. These symptoms can last for four to seven days. Most people recover from salmonellosis by resting and drinking plenty of fluids, however people who are immunocompromised, infants and the elderly can experience worsened symptoms.