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USDA Gives Hard Boiled Tips for Easter and Passover Food Safety:
If You Find a Hidden Easter Egg Three Days Later, Throw It Out! Leave That Egg On The Passover Seder Plate!
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Susan Conley (301) 504-9605
Steven Cohen (202) 720-9113
WASHINGTON, March 21, 2005 – If you're planning an Easter egg hunt or cooking eggs
for your Passover Seder, USDA has important advice to help you keep your family safe from foodborne illness
throughout the Spring celebrations.
"Eggs play a key role in Spring religious holidays," said Susan Conley, director of Food Safety
Education for USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). "Hard-cooked eggs for Easter and
Passover celebrations should be prepared with care."
If you plan to eat the Easter eggs you decorate, be sure to use only food grade dye. (Some people make two
sets of eggs - one for decorating and hiding, another for eating. Others use plastic eggs for hiding.)
For an Easter egg hunt, avoid cracking the egg shells. If the shells crack then bacteria could enter and
contaminate the egg inside. Also, hide eggs in places that are protected from dirt, pets and other bacteria
sources and keep hard -cooked eggs chilled in the refrigerator until just before the hunt. The total time
for hiding and hunting eggs should be no more than two hours. Then be sure to refrigerate the "found"
eggs right away until you eat them. Eggs found hours later or the next day should be thrown out — not eaten!
Eggs also play and important role on the Seder plate during Passover celebrations. If that egg sits out at room
temperature for more than two hours, it should not be eaten. Since the hard-cooked eggs that are usually served to
each person as part of the special dinner are meant to be eaten, keep those hard-cooked eggs in the refrigerator
until ready to serve.
When shell eggs are hard-cooked, the protective coating is washed away, leaving open pores in the shell where harmful
bacteria could enter. Be sure to refrigerate eggs within two hours of cooking and use them within a week. Check your
refrigerator temperature with an appliance thermometer and adjust the refrigerator temperature to 40°F (Fahrenheit) or
below.
For egg safety - to stay healthy and avoid foodborne illness — USDA advises:
- Always buy eggs from a refrigerated case. Choose eggs with clean, uncracked shells.
- Buy eggs before the "Sell-By" or "EXP" (expiration) date on the carton.
- Take eggs straight home from the grocery store and refrigerate them right away. Check to be sure your refrigerator is set at 40°F or below. Don't take eggs out of the carton to put them in the refrigerator -- the carton protects them. Keep the eggs in the coldest part of the refrigerator — not on the door.
- Raw shell eggs in the carton can stay in your refrigerator for three to five weeks from the purchase date. Although the "Sell-By" date might pass during that time, the eggs are still safe to use. (The date is not required by federal law, but some states may require it.)
- Always wash your hands with warm water and soap before and after handling raw eggs. To avoid cross-contamination, you should also wash forks, knives, spoons and all counters and other surfaces that touch the eggs with hot water and soap.
- Don't keep raw or cooked eggs out of the refrigerator more than two hours.
- Egg dishes such as deviled eggs or egg salad should be used within 3 to 4 days.
If you have a question about meat, poultry or egg products, call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline toll
free at 1-888-MPHotline or 1-888-674-6854, TTY: 1-800-256-7072.
You can call the year-round hotline Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 pm. EST (English or Spanish).
Listen to timely recorded food safety messages at the same number 24 hours a day. Check out the FSIS Web
site at https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090305082817/http://www.fsis.usda.gov. E-mail questions can be answered by
mphotline.fsis@usda.gov.
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