Editor's note: Michael Ruhlman is a James Beard Award-winning author who has written or co-written more than 25 books of nonfiction, fiction, and memoir, primarily about food and cooking. His books include “The Soul of a Chef” and his most recent book, “Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America.” Opinions expressed in this editorial are his own. Read more opinions on CNN.
Spanocchia, Italy CNN —
I'm writing to you from Spanocchia, an organic farm and ecotourism site in Tuscany, and I've just made some molletto eggs, with cooked whites and soft-boiled yolks.
It's delicious, but it's also a bit worrying, given the increasing reports of bird flu outbreaks on chicken and dairy farms. Should you be worried? And should you be worried if you're cooking your favorite dishes at home?
There have been numerous reports of wild birds and marine animals believed to be carrying the virus or its variants, and infections have also been documented in non-bovine mammals, including cats, dogs and rats. Should this be a factor in determining the temperature at which to cook eggs? And, just as important, what should I say to home cooks who seek my advice on the subject?
This avian flu virus has spread rapidly on dairy farms across the U.S. since March, affecting more than 90 herds in 12 states, and it's clearly something to be taken seriously. Drinking raw or pasteurized milk is now clearly risky. “Our nation's dairy industry is clearly battling a pandemic of H5N1 avian flu,” writes Donald G. McNeil Jr., a journalist who has covered infectious diseases for decades.
I've drunk raw milk, even though I knew it might contain harmful bacteria. Raw milk tastes good, and at the time I drank it, it seemed worth the risk. But viruses are not bacteria. They're another kind of microorganism that can mutate.
Since we know that this virus is circulating on dairy farms, it would clearly be reckless to drink raw milk, not only to avoid getting sick yourself, but just as importantly, to avoid spreading the virus.
Fortunately, so far there has been no evidence of human-to-human transmission of avian influenza, but again, viruses mutate and there is no guarantee that human-to-human transmission will not occur in the future.
There is strong evidence that heat inactivates the virus. The USDA reports that inoculated ground beef can be killed when heated to 145°F or higher. Hamburgers and steaks should be medium to well done with no pink in the center. Similarly, pasteurized milk does not contain any live virus.
So what does all this mean in terms of how you should proceed in the kitchen? Most food experts agree that food is safe to eat, with the caveat that “as long as it's cooked properly.” But even cooked foods can pose some risk of making you sick if the entire dish isn't heated to pasteurization temperatures (145 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit).
Until we know something different, I think the best advice for now is that it's probably safe to continue preparing food as you normally would, including soft-boiled eggs. Most professional chefs I've spoken to are comfortable with that advice; they haven't changed their kitchen procedures about cooking times and temperatures as a result of avian flu.
We need to monitor how and where the virus is spreading. For now, the CDC has rated bird flu a low risk to humans. But home cooks should listen for any changes in guidance from health officials.
Is there a risk that bird flu will make chefs and food writers like me rethink that guide? Sadly, it could. The virus has been found in the muscles of infected cows, lives in raw milk and is small enough to fit through the pores of an eggshell.
While writing this article, I reached out to several chefs and others, including McNeil, a leading expert on viruses and how they spread, to get their thoughts on the potential danger avian flu poses to our food chain.
McNeil told me that US food officials could have done more, and sooner, to warn the public about the emergence and spread of bird flu, a sentiment echoed by many experts in the scientific community.
The government needs to do more to get industrial farms to comply with testing, which some farmers are resisting. Moreover, he wrote to me in an email, “It's clear that many dairy farmers are resistant to having inspectors on their premises to test their cows and workers. This is outrageous. Hidden infections create the perfect environment for an epidemic.”
Months after the bird flu outbreak, guidance from governments about what we should and shouldn't eat, and how we should prepare our favourite foods, is not as clear as we'd like, and for many people, including food professionals like me, that's frustrating.
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As the H5N1 virus spreads, there may come a time when food officials decide that even more stringent precautions should be taken than before the virus emerged. That might mean cooking all burgers medium to well, all eggs hard-boiled, and taking steak tartare topped with raw egg yolk off the menu entirely.
Because there is no evidence that raw foods other than milk contain the virus, I will continue to cook my eggs to soft-run yolks and order beef tartare for dinner at my neighborhood bistro.
But interestingly, the farm where I am staying in Italy employs many foreign interns, and the first thing I heard the morning I started writing this essay was one of the interns standing outside my window yelling to her coworker, “One of the chickens is dead!”
Farm chickens die for a variety of reasons, but the timing seems like an ominous reminder that we need to remain vigilant and careful. But until I hear something definitive, I'm trying not to fear for my food, and I encourage you to do the same. Enjoy!
