The Philippine Egg Board Association (PEBA) has warned consumers on the health risk of consuming frozen eggs.

In a radio interview, PEBA President Irwin Ambal sounded alarm bells as he told consumers to be wary of frozen eggs that can cause diseases such as salmonella, even if these are being used in some bakeshops for quite a while now.

"Ang tawag namin sa Batangas diyan ay 'loret'. Mayroong sobrang basag na hindi na puwedeng ibenta na nakalagay sa tray kaya ang ginagawa ng ibang poultry farmers ay binabasag nila tapos inilalagay sa plastic tapos nakalagay sa timba (In Batangas, we call them 'loret'. There are cracked eggs that could not be sold or placed on a tray so poultry farmers would crack them and put the eggs together in a plastic bag, and eventually put them in a pail)," he said.

Despite being "below standard", consumers still buy these frozen eggs, which are sold at P55 to P60 per kilo while a tray of medium-sized eggs costs more or less P270.

"May gumagamit niyan na bakeshop pero dini-discourage namin 'yan dahil hindi 'yan naaayon sa standards. Pero dala na rin sa kahirapan ng buhay maraming gumagamit niyan na industries pero karamihan ginagamit 'yan doon sa bakeries (Some bakeshops use these frozen eggs but we discourage that because these are below standards. But because of hard times, some industries resort to them, mostly in bakeries)," Ambal noted.

If consumers cannot avoid the use of frozen eggs, Ambal advised them to cook those properly "to kill the bacteria and/or viruses."

The PEBA official reminded, as well, that fresh eggs must be refrigerated or consumed within a week if stored in normal temperature and dry place. One needs to cook the eggs immediately once removed from the cold chain to prevent the possible spread of salmonella, he maintained.

Despite admitting that there is a shortage of eggs, Ambal maintained that farm gate prices remain stable at P7 per piece.