The joy of eggs – how 'nature's multivitamin' shook off the scare stories

Decades of dud healthy-eating guidance sent the humble egg into nutritional exile. But with new advice about runny yolks suggesting that salmonella in raw eggs is a thing of the past, it’s time to lick the cake bowl again

Joanna Blythman
Tuesday 17 October 2017 16.34 BST

Every morning for breakfast I eat a runny-yolked egg, often boiled, sometimes poached, or fried. In any given week I’ll consume eggs in other meals – frittata, souffle, as a binder for breadcrumbed fish, in baking, quiche, kedgeree, fresh pasta, perhaps. I reckon that I personally get through anything between 10 and 15 eggs weekly. I do it not only because I cherish their near-magical cooking properties, but also as a two-fingered salute to a dogmatic government dietetic establishment that has pumped taxpayers’ money into convincing us that this most perfect of natural foods is something we should restrict, even fear. Guess what? I’ve maintained a healthy, normal body weight, and lived to tell the tale.

So forgive me if I don’t applaud the latest Food Standards Agency (FSA) edict telling us that pregnant women, babies and elderly people can now eat eggs raw or soft-cooked without calamitous consequences, as if this was some sort of thunderbolt revelation, a recent achievement. It’s more a case of: “You’re 30 years too late guys, but better late than never.”