A popular activity at winter events is making homemade ice cream.  It’s a hands-on activity that engages all age groups and offers a delightful reward at the end.  However, if your favorite ice cream recipe uses uncooked eggs, it’s time to find a new method or new ingredients.

Salmonella food poisoning results from contaminated food that has not been cooked thoroughly.  Salmonella enteritidis is an unusual strain of salmonella that has been found in the ovaries of infected laying hens.  Because the hens transmit the organism to the egg yolk before the shell forms, we can no longer assume that a clean, uncracked egg is safe to eat. 

Since thorough cooking is necessary to destroy the salmonella bacteria, foods that contain raw or lightly cooked eggs – such as ice cream or eggnog – are risky and should be avoided.  This also includes tasting raw cookie dough.

You can still enjoy homemade ice cream without the risk of Salmonella infection by substituting a pasteurized egg product, egg substitute, or pasteurized shell eggs for the raw eggs in your favorite recipe.  Whole liquid pasteurized eggs are available at supermarkets.  They are packaged in containers that resemble a small milk carton and are in the refrigerator case.

Other options for safe homemade ice cream are to use a cooked egg base or prepare it without eggs.  The American Egg Board has a recipe for homemade ice cream made with eggs that are heated to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. and then cooled. This temperature will kill Salmonella, if present.  This recipe, along with others for food traditionally made with raw or undercooked eggs can be found at the American Egg Board’s website.

For more information about egg safety, access the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition or call 1-888-723-3366.