Are Eggs with Blood Spots Safe to Eat?

If you've ever cracked open an egg to discover a gnarly blood spot in the yolk and gasped, you're not alone. We're doing that Kitchen Ick dance right there with you, ladies and gents. But should you flip that egg straight into the trash bin? And what exactly are those blood spots, anyways?

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As it turns out, they're perfectly harmless. On the rare instance that you find these small spots on an egg yolk, it's perfectly safe to eat the cooked egg. "These tiny spots do not indicate a fertilized egg. Instead, they are caused by the rupture of a blood vessel on the yolk surface during formation of the egg or by a similar accident in the wall of the oviduct," explains a statement on incredibleegg.org, a website of the American Egg Board. "Mass candling [a process to scan and organize eggs] methods reveal most eggs with blood and those eggs are removed. However, even with mass scanners, it’s impossible to catch them all."

If you prefer, you can grab a butter knife and use the tip to remove the blood spot before you cook your eggs (though the egg is still safe to consume if you don't do this). Keep calm and breakfast on, folks.