Sunny side-up, over easy, lightly scrambled, soft-boiled, poached: Americans love eating eggs when they're still runny, despite the general understanding that raw or undercooked eggs aren't good for you.
单面煎蛋（蛋黄完整呈液态）、双面煎蛋（蛋黄仍为半流动状态）、轻炒蛋、半熟煮蛋、荷包蛋： 尽管人们普遍认为生蛋或未煮熟的鸡蛋对身体不好，但美国人仍喜欢吃溏心蛋。
When you cook an egg, the heat that solidifies its whites and yolks kills pathogens like salmonella and bird flu. That's why food safety officials recommend cooking eggs until both parts are firm.
当你煮鸡蛋时，热量会使蛋白和蛋黄凝固，从而杀死沙门氏菌和禽流感等病原体。 因此，食品安全官员建议将鸡蛋煮至蛋白和蛋黄都完全凝固。
But how unsafe are runny yolks really?
但是，溏心蛋黄到底有多不安全呢？
That depends on how much risk you're willing to accept, said Felicia Wu, a professor of food safety, toxicology and risk assessment at Michigan State University.
这取决于你愿意接受多少风险， 密歇根州立大学的食品安全、毒理学和风险评估教授费利西亚·吴说。
"If you look at the eggs typically purchased in the United States, most of them are perfectly safe to eat in a runny state," she said. "It's just that we don't know when there's an individual egg that contains some risk."
“如果你看看在美国通常购买的鸡蛋，大多数在溏心状态下食用是完全安全的，”她说， “只是我们不知道哪个鸡蛋会存在风险。”
Salmonella is a real concern.
沙门氏菌确实是一个令人担忧的问题。
Eggs can carry harmful bacteria, including E. coli and campylobacter. But salmonella — the leading cause of food poisoning-related deaths nationwide — is by far the biggest hazard, said Dr. John Leong, a professor of molecular biology and microbiology at Tufts University.
鸡蛋可能携带包括大肠杆菌和弯曲菌在内的有害细菌。 尽管在全国范围内，食物中毒相关死亡的主要诱因有很多，但沙门氏菌无疑是其中最大的危害， 塔夫茨大学分子生物学和微生物学教授约翰·里昂说。
Recent data on salmonella-infected eggs is hard to find. One widely cited study from 2000 suggested that one in every 20,000 eggs carries the bacteria. This might not sound like a lot, but given how many eggs Americans eat — about 250 per person on average in 2023 — that risk can add up.
关于感染沙门氏菌的鸡蛋的最新数据很难找到。 一项2000年的广泛引用的研究表明，每20,000个鸡蛋中就有一个携带这种细菌。 这听起来可能不算多，但考虑到美国人平均每人每年要吃大约250个鸡蛋，这个风险就会累积起来。
Salmonella can cause fevers, stomach cramping, diarrhea, vomiting and in rare cases, lingering joint pain.
沙门氏菌可引起发热、胃痛、腹泻、呕吐，在极少数情况下，还会导致持续的关节痛。
And while most recover on their own or with antibiotics, around 26,500 people with salmonella are hospitalized and about 420 die of their infections each year. Salmonella is especially dangerous for older people, young children and those who are pregnant or immunocompromised. Public health officials are growing more concerned about antibiotic-resistant salmonella strains, Dr. Leong said.
虽然大多数人可以自行恢复或服用抗生素进行治疗， 但每年仍有约26,500人因沙门氏菌感染住院，约420人死亡。 沙门氏菌对老年人、婴幼儿以及孕妇或免疫力低下者尤其危险。 里昂博士说， 公共卫生官员对抗生素耐药性的沙门氏菌菌株越来越担忧。
It's hard to determine the exact likelihood that a given egg would carry salmonella, because not every egg that ends up on your plate gets tested for the bacteria, said Julie Garden-Robinson, a professor and food and nutrition expert at North Dakota State University.
由于并非所有端上餐桌的鸡蛋都会检测细菌， 因此很难确定某个特定鸡蛋携带沙门氏菌的确切可能性， 北达科他州立大学的一名教授兼食品和营养专家朱莉·加登-罗宾逊说。
Hens lay eggs and pass feces through a single opening, which can leave bacteria on eggshells. The federal government requires most sellers with 3,000 or more laying hens to sanitize the outside of eggs before they're sold. This lowers — but doesn't completely eliminate — the risk of salmonella ending up on an eggshell. Smaller farms and those that sell their eggs directly to consumers don't have to follow the federal washing rules, although they might follow state and local requirements.
母鸡通过同一个开口产卵和排泄粪便，这可能会在蛋壳上留下细菌。 联邦政府要求拥有3000只或更多产蛋母鸡的大多数卖家在出售前对鸡蛋外部进行消毒。 这会降低沙门氏菌最终沾染到蛋壳上的风险，但无法完全消除。 规模较小的农场和直接向消费者出售鸡蛋的农场不必遵守联邦清洗规定， 尽管它们可能遵守州和地方的要求。
But even sanitized eggs may carry salmonella since the bacteria can also get into the egg yolk and white, Dr. Garden-Robinson said. There isn't data to show whether most egg-related salmonella infections come from bacteria inside the egg or on its surface, Dr. Wu said.
但加登-罗宾逊博士说， 即使经过消毒的鸡蛋也可能携带沙门氏菌，因为细菌也可能进入蛋黄和蛋白中。 吴博士说， 没有数据表明大多数与鸡蛋相关的沙门氏菌感染是来自鸡蛋内部还是表面。
Bird flu is less of a concern.
禽流感则较少令人担忧。
Although the recent bird flu outbreak is killing millions of hens and sending egg prices surging, experts say the evidence currently suggests that the virus is unlikely to end up in an egg you're eating.
尽管最近的禽流感疫情已经导致数百万只母鸡死亡，并使鸡蛋价格飙升， 但专家们表示，目前的证据表明，该病毒不太可能出现在你食用的鸡蛋中。
That's mainly because infected hens die of bird flu before they can lay eggs, said Dr. John Swartzberg, an emeritus professor of infectious diseases and vaccinology at the University of California, Berkeley.
这主要是因为感染禽流感的母鸡在产卵前就会死于禽流感， 加州大学伯克利分校传染病和疫苗学荣誉教授约翰·斯沃茨伯格说。
If the virus did make its way to your egg carton, though, cooking the egg until the whites and yolks are both firm would kill it.
不过，如果病毒真的进入了你的鸡蛋盒，将鸡蛋煮至蛋白和蛋黄都完全凝固就能杀死它。
There are ways to lower your risk.
有一些方法可以降低风险。
If you love runny yolks too much to give them up for good, it might be OK to enjoy them occasionally, depending on your health and your own risk tolerance.
如果你太喜欢溏心蛋黄，以至于不想彻底放弃， 那么根据你的健康状况和自身风险承受能力，偶尔享用一下也是可以的。
"You obviously will not get sick every time you eat an undercooked egg," Dr. Garden-Robinson said.
“你显然不会每次吃未煮熟的鸡蛋都会生病，” 加登-罗宾逊博士说。
And you don't have to cook yolks until they're so hard they crumble to reduce your salmonella risk. Jammy or slightly set yolks with a custard-like texture are less risky than runny yolks, said Dr. Indu Upadhyaya, a food safety expert at the University of Connecticut.
而且你不必把蛋黄煮得非常硬，直到它们碎裂，才能降低沙门氏菌的风险。 康涅狄格大学食品安全专家英杜·乌帕德亚雅博士说， 带有蛋奶冻般质地的柔软或稍微凝固的蛋黄比溏心蛋黄风险更低。
To further protect yourself, experts shared several other recommendations:
为了进一步保护自己，专家们还分享了其他一些建议：
Consider pasteurized eggs. These have been heat-treated to kill off pathogens. They're sold either as liquid in containers or as whole eggs labeled pasteurized.
考虑巴氏消毒鸡蛋。 这些鸡蛋已经经过热处理以杀死病原体。 它们要么作为液体装在容器里出售，要么作为标有巴氏杀菌字样的整蛋出售。
Practice safe hygiene. Any time you're handling raw eggs, make sure to wash your hands, knives, cutting boards and countertops.
注意卫生安全。 每次处理生鸡蛋时，都要确保洗手、刀具、砧板和台面。
Keep your eggs cool. Salmonella can multiply at room temperature, so put your eggs straight into the refrigerator.
把鸡蛋冷藏。 沙门氏菌在室温下会繁殖，所以要把鸡蛋直接放入冰箱。
Check for cracks. Even if the crack is small, it's best to toss the egg, since salmonella can enter through the shell.
检查鸡蛋是否有裂缝。 即使裂缝很小，也最好扔掉这个鸡蛋，因为沙门氏菌可以通过蛋壳进入。
Skip the wash. Although it may seem like washing your eggs at home would offer added protection, food safety experts advise against it. If the water temperature isn't exactly right, it can cause the egg to contract, pulling any bacteria on the surface into the egg through its pores.
不要清洗。 虽然在家里洗鸡蛋似乎能提供额外的保护，但食品安全专家建议不要这样做。 如果水温不合适，它会使鸡蛋收缩，将蛋壳表面的任何细菌通过气孔拉入鸡蛋内。
Keep them fresh. As eggs go bad, the risk of food-borne illnesses grows. You can keep eggs refrigerated for three to five weeks from the day you buy them. After that, it's time to throw them out.
及时食用。 鸡蛋变质后，食源性疾病的风险就会增加。 你可以从购买之日起将鸡蛋冷藏保存三到五周。 之后，就该扔掉了。
