About 1 in every 10,000 eggs is infected with Salmonella. About 73,320,000,000 untreated eggs are produced in the US each year (I think), and so the number of infected eggs per year put onto the market will be about 7,332,000.
Now, the number of cases per year of salmonella is about 40 thousand but could be about 1,200,000. A maximum of 1 out of every 6 eggs isn't cooked properly, if ALL these cases are from eggs. They probably aren't, and so this number needs to be reduced, but by how much? To tell you the truth, we're not sure.
Salmonella can be rather mild or it can be a pretty bad illness. The symptoms can include vomiting, nausea, headaches, diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps. Symptoms can last from 6-72 hours after infection. It's a more common infection in summertime, children are more likely to catch it than adults, and the sickness can get more severe if the patient is young or old, or has a compromised immune system for any other reason. There are a reported 400 deaths per year from Salmonella, though most people will recover completely. Some long-term consequences can include pain in joints, irritation of the eyes, and Reiter's Syndrome (painful urination.) This can last for months or years, and sometimes leads to Chronic Arthritis, which isn't affected by antibiotics, as it's not directly caused by bacteria. (In this case, it's indirectly caused by them.)
I don't think any of us want to get Salmonella!
We wondered if anyone is trying to do anything to stop Salmonella, and they are. The government is going to hatcheries 4 times a year to check for egg quality. They check to see if any of the laying hens are infected with Salmonella. The egg containers are labeled "keep refrigerated under 45˚ Fahrenheit." If the companies choose to, they can have their eggs graded. They are being graded by the USDA (the United States Department of Agriculture). Grading means they check for quality and weight of eggs.
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