Curried eggs ?

Do you remember the egg crisis of the late 1980’s ? Edwina Currie MP made a passing comment that most of the eggs in the UK were contaminated with salmonella (at that time) This caused chaos – with her resignation designed to calm the situation. The egg producers and farmers all denied her claims and tried to reassure the public, but the immediate panic led to vast numbers of chickens being culled and hardly any eggs being bought for quite some time. Only yesterday I read a report of one journalists experience at the time…whilst she and her family as well as their neighbours all suffered the effects of salmonella. They had all eaten chocolate mousse – it was a popular, speedy dessert made with melted chocolate and raw eggs. Later, there was a Whitehall inquiry into the sorry situation and it was found that Mrs. Currie had been absolutely right, but the damage was done. Public confidence in eggs was at an all time low. With the trailer for a comedy show frequently airing on TV at the moment, the reflection of the anxiety is perfectly illustrated when raw egg is mixed into a cocktail – Alan Partridge’s advice to camera is always to cook your eggs thoroughly. Isn’t it interesting how just a few words spoken in haste can have such a lasting effect? I still can’t bring myself to encourage anyone to lick the cake spoon even though salmonella in eggs has been (almost) totally eradicated.