{"id":1183122,"date":"2026-09-02T21:20:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T21:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1183122\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T21:20:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T21:20:35","slug":"bbc-expert-says-thing-you-should-worry-about-with-uk-kitchen-egg-storage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1183122\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC expert says \u2018thing you should worry about\u2019 with UK kitchen egg storage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Xand van Tulleken said people could make a key mistake as UK hit with killer salmonella outbreak<\/p>\n

08:17, 02 Sep 2026Updated 08:46, 02 Sep 2026<\/p>\n

\"BBC<\/p>\n

BBC Morning Live, Dr Xand van Tulleken said people need to consider how they store their eggs(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

A BBC expert has explained the \u2018thing you should worry about\u2019 with UK kitchen egg storage after Salmonella outbreak. Cases of salmonella linked to imported eggs have risen, according to new figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).<\/p>\n

Officials reiterated that babies, young children, pregnant women and older people should only eat thoroughly cooked eggs in restaurants and cafes. There is no evidence that eggs produced in the UK are affected and the risk to the public remains low.<\/p>\n

As of August 25, there have been 259 cases of salmonella and one death,<\/a> the UKHSA said. Appearing on BBC<\/a> Morning Live, Dr Xand van Tulleken said people need to consider how they store their eggs – but added one thing they should not do is wash them.<\/p>\n

On the subject of whether people should store eggs in the fridge, h<\/a>e said: \u201cFrom the Food Standards Agency, the advice is that the fridge is good. That\u2019s their gold standard. But it is fine to store your eggs outside the fridge provided it\u2019s in a place that is a steady temperature below 20\u00b0.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow this summer, my eggs are just out in the kitchen and it\u2019s well over 20\u00b0 for a lot of the summer and the temperature is fluctuating as well. So you\u2019re fine in the fridge, you\u2019re fine outside the fridge, but you want to cool the kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n

People need to be aware of a potentially dangerous situation in fridges which <\/a>can allow bacteria to grow, Dr van Tulleken said: \u201cSo here, let me give you the thing that you should actually worry about. It\u2019s condensation. So, the reason they say keep them in the fridge at a steady temperature, so you\u2019re trying to avoid temperature fluctuations and condensation because condensation, moisture on the outside of the egg allows bacteria into the egg.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so, if you\u2019re getting your eggs in and out of the fridge all the time, you\u2019re getting a lot of condensation, that could be a problem. And so having them in a cool kitchen is fine, but you\u2019ll get a longer life from the egg if you keep it in the fridge. But you\u2019re not mad if you\u2019re keeping your eggs outside the fridge, but on a on a warm summer, you might be better in the fridge in the box.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that people should not wash them: \u201cYou don\u2019t want to wash your eggs for the same reason. You don\u2019t want to get your eggs covered in moisture. Your eggs are fine. Don\u2019t wash them. Just crack them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone eating in a restaurant should ask one question: \u201cThe other thing is I think if you\u2019re eating out at the moment, you can either ask them and say, \u2018Have you checked for the British lion? Can I check that your eggs are not imported?\u2019 If you\u2019re not feeling up for that conversation with the waiter, it would be fine to also avoid souffl\u00e9, mousse, hollandaise, and mayonnaise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe steak with the raw egg on it. Any of those things, soft-boiled eggs, poached eggs, all those things would, if you\u2019re worried, particularly if you\u2019re vulnerable, I think that would be reasonable at the moment. But if you if the kitchen uses UK eggs, you\u2019re fine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr Xand van Tulleken said people could make a key mistake as UK hit with killer salmonella outbreak…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1183123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[11],"tags":[192,2760,105,591,29720,16,15],"class_list":["post-1183122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-bbc","tag-food-poisoning","tag-health","tag-pregnancy","tag-salmonella","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117203543485272995","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1183122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1183123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1183122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1183122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1183122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}