Questions about beef and eggs

[jtraveller1]

I'm new to the forum and I have a couple of questions regarding the handling of beef and eggs.

I purchased a roast of grass-fed beef at a farmers market in Toronto today. It was wrapped in butcher paper and was frozen. In a few areas, the paper had been torn and the frozen beef was exposed. I didn't notice at first because the paper and the beef are of a similar colour.
There are only a few small areas like this. Do you think it is safe to defrost, cook and consume?

I also bought some eggs from another more permanent market. When cracking the eggs I got some raw egg on my hand. Before washing my hands took more eggs from the container and then put it back in the fridge. Do you think the raw egg that I transferred to the container will pose a danger? Could it go bad and contaminate other food or might it be bad if I touch the container later?
Also, I didn't do a very good job of cracking the eggs and got some shell into my eggs in the pan. I fished most of it out but I think there was some that I missed and consumed. I didn't wash the eggs before and upon inspecting the remaining eggs later I noticed what looked like a little bit of a feather.
What are the chances that I will get sick from eating some dirty eggshell?

Thanks so much for any input!

 

[CWS4322]

Welcome to DC. I would rewrap the beef and eat it fairly soon.

I don't wash my eggs until I am about to use them. Washing them removes the bloom. I also don't keep my eggs in the fridge--they get stored in the coolest part of the basement. I typically brush the feathers/wood chips off before I give them to friends, but I also tell them that I haven't washed the eggs. Warm water, no soap. Egg shells are very porous. Once washed, they should be stored in the fridge. Eggs stored in a cool place can last up to 12 months. You don't want to know how old eggs one buys at the supermarket can be!

If you go back to the farmer's market, you might mention to the person from whom you bought the beef that the freezer paper was torn in a few spots. I know I'd like to know this if I were selling something to the public.

I wouldn't be too worried about contamination. Chicks that are purchased as day-olds are vaccinated; those one "self-hatches" are easy to vaccinate. I have to do that to mine at 4 weeks.

Depending on the breed of chickens the person has, the membrane can be thicker for some--the barred Plymouth Rock eggs that I collect have a thicker membrane than the Rhode Island Reds. This makes cracking those eggs a little tougher. I crack my eggs on the counter, not the edge of the pan. And, if I break a yolk, I start again and feed that egg with the broken yolk to the dogs--but then, I have a source of fresh eggs just out my backdoor (although the girls would like to move into The Big Chicken house, it is not going to happen).

 

[Zagut]

I think you'll be fine.
I'd have no problem eating the roast or eggs myself.

CWS,
I really think you should let the girls into the "Big Chicken House". It really would be the ultimate in "free range".

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I don't understand how eggs got transformed into biohazards. I've been eating raw eggs since I was a kid. My mom used to make me eggnog. An egg, glass of milk, some sugar and a bit of vanilla, whisk it up and drink it. It tasted good. I never thought a raw egg was anything odd to eat.

The most important thing you need to know about eggs is to keep them under refrigeration (as soon as you get home from the market) and leave them in their original egg carton. (It's specially designed to be the best environment for refrigerated eggs.) And use them by their use-by date, or cook them before same.

I wouldn't have any problem with the beef either, although you should look more closely next time

 

[jtraveller1]

Thanks so much for the responses. I have two more concerns, perhaps OCD induced.
I took the roast out of the freezer to thaw overnight in the fridge. As I was lookin for an adequate container, the roast sat out of the fridge and freezer for 10 or 15 minutes. I know one isnt supposed to thaw beef at room temperature and I was wondering if it was dangerous that my beef sat there before I got it into the fridge.
Also, when tearing the butcher paper off the frozen roast before putting it in the bowl, it seemed like some stuff might have flown from it around the kitchen as it took some effort to pull the paper off the frozen meat. Could it be dangerous if some beefy ice or little amounts of blood or meat flew off into one of my cupboards or onto a clean plate.
Should I wash the entire kitchen and all of it's contents?

Thanks again and sorry if these questions are silly

 

[Claire]

Not silly in light of the crap we get fed by the media day and night. I'm with Greg, we ate not only raw eggs, but I still eat raw beef. I don't recommend this, I sure as heck don't want anyone searching me down and suing me. But I think we've gone over the top sometimes. The frozen meat where the paper has been torn? Probably all it would do is have some freezer burn, which if it could kill you, I'd been dead years ago. I guess I'm evil, but I don't wash my grocery store eggs. When I've bought them at stands, I do rinse and wipe them, because, yes, they do have barnyard stuff on them. I doubt that eating a little eggshell will hurt you. If I had to go through the sterilization routine for every thing I ate, I'd quit cooking, period. I'd just starve. It would be more fun.

 

[Dawgluver]

Thanks so much for the responses. I have two more concerns, perhaps OCD induced.
I took the roast out of the freezer to thaw overnight in the fridge. As I was lookin for an adequate container, the roast sat out of the fridge and freezer for 10 or 15 minutes. I know one isnt supposed to thaw beef at room temperature and I was wondering if it was dangerous that my beef sat there before I got it into the fridge.
Also, when tearing the butcher paper off the frozen roast before putting it in the bowl, it seemed like some stuff might have flown from it around the kitchen as it took some effort to pull the paper off the frozen meat. Could it be dangerous if some beefy ice or little amounts of blood or meat flew off into one of my cupboards or onto a clean plate.
Should I wash the entire kitchen and all of it's contents?

Thanks again and sorry if these questions are silly

10 or 15 minutes at room temp, even longer, no problem. I wouldn't leave it out overnight. People used to defrost meat on the counter all the time, though it's probably not a good idea. I also don't see a need to disinfect everything. Just wipe down your work area as you usually would.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

10 or 15 minutes at room temperature is nothing.

You should have just put it on a plate, wrapper and all, and set it in the refrigerator. The paper would be much easier to remove after it's started to defrost.

 

[Bigjim68]

I think many of the warnings, dire warnings, and alerts are vastly overblown. I make something called a Hollandaise sauce in a regular basis, no problems yet. If an egg shell gets in my egg, I pick it out. If meat has a slight freezer burn in places, I cut it off. I have defrosted on the counter more than once. I also have eaten raw beef, sometimes with a raw egg on top. I think it is called tatare or brotje.

One more of these practices may someday make me ill, but so far they have not. I'm 75 yo, and I guess I will just take my chances.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

BTW supermarket eggs are already washed. If you get any supermarket eggs that don't look clean you should either change the market or change the brand of eggs.

If you're going to eat steak tartare it would probably be a good idea to grind your own beef from whole parts, rather than use pre-ground.

Beef sushi eh?

 

[Bigjim68]

BTW supermarket eggs are already washed. If you get any supermarket eggs that don't look clean you should either change the market or change the brand of eggs.

If you're going to eat steak tartare it would probably be a good idea to grind your own beef from whole parts, rather than use pre-ground.

Beef sushi eh?

I agree. I generally chop my beef as I like the texture better. If I am using a large quantity, then it goes through the grinder. My product also tastes better than the store bought stuff, and I know just how long it has sat before I cook it.

 

[mozart]

Thanks so much for the responses. I have two more concerns, perhaps OCD induced.
I took the roast out of the freezer to thaw overnight in the fridge. As I was lookin for an adequate container, the roast sat out of the fridge and freezer for 10 or 15 minutes. I know one isnt supposed to thaw beef at room temperature and I was wondering if it was dangerous that my beef sat there before I got it into the fridge.
Also, when tearing the butcher paper off the frozen roast before putting it in the bowl, it seemed like some stuff might have flown from it around the kitchen as it took some effort to pull the paper off the frozen meat. Could it be dangerous if some beefy ice or little amounts of blood or meat flew off into one of my cupboards or onto a clean plate.
Should I wash the entire kitchen and all of it's contents?

Thanks again and sorry if these questions are silly

Hi Traveller,

If you go to the top of this forum you will find a "sticky" with many answers about food safety. These answers are from sources like the USDA, and other professional groups.

While I agree that there is a lot of needless concern over some practices, what worked for grandma doesn't necessarily work anymore. Maybe the biggest reason for this is that many pathogenic bacteria have mutated into very resistant and virulent strains.

One very good example is ground beef. Eating raw or undercooked ground beef was less of a concern before the new strain of E coli showed up and a common bacteria became a deadly one.

However, there is no cause to become paranoid about food. If you learn how food borne illness is caused, you will develop confidence in making decisions about different situations.

 

[jtraveller1]

You guys are great! Thanks

 

[Claire]

I had to laugh at the thawing meat on the counter. In the winter, at night, my pantry is easily as cold as my fridge, and the kitchen counter almost as cold. Maybe next year I'll experiment, but I'd be willing to bet on a very cold winter night the same piece of meat on the counter and one in the fridge, the one on the counter will be still more frozen than the one in the fridge! I have to take any olive or peanut oil from my pantry and put it in my closest cupboard to the stove or it solidifies.

And people wonder why I won't have granite counter tops.

 

[Rocklobster]

I remember sneaking pinches of raw ground burger behind my moms back when she was preparing dinner. I used to cover them with salt and pepper and gobble them back. I'm still here....

 

[Claire]

Cracks me up. One of my sibs has hated "hamburger" (what we called all ground meat, but of course when I was a kid, the only ground meat was beef) through her entire life. She hated chili, she hated spaghetti sauce (both were always made with ground beef when we were kids). She hated hamburgers (my father didn't like them much either, so I thought it was a rare treat), meatballs, Swiss steak, meatballs, meat loaf. We were a family with a sergeant as a father and budget meals were the rule. So meals could be a crisis. Ironically, she does then and still does love raw meat. One time Mom Got us all in the car and realize sis had a pound of hamburger, raw, with her. She'd been eating it as we went through the commissary! Raw! Something she couldn't get her to eat cooked at all. She was furious at the time (yes, Mom went back to the commissary and paid for it).