[egbert]

So an acquaintance of mine commented on Facebook that she had cracked open an egg and it had a blood spot in it, and lots of her friends commented on how disgusting it was, how unsafe it was to eat it etc.

My understanding is that it was just a rupture when the egg was forming - I know its not fertilised although a lot of people insist it is, because my chooks have laid the odd one and I dont have a boy. And a few double yolks too.

Anyway I told it was safe and got 'shouted down' by someone insisting it would make her ill! Have you ever come across this? 

[doganjo]

Yes, I have come across ignorant folk like that too    This might help explain it to your 'friend'
http://www.poultryhelp.com/bloodspots.html
Can you eat eggs with blood spots?

 Eggs with a visible blood spot on the yolk are safe for consumption. The spot can be removed with the tip of a knife.  Blood or "meat" spots are occasionally found on an egg yolk. These tiny spots are not harmful and are caused by the rupture of a blood vessel during formation of the egg. Blood spots do not indicate a fertilized egg. Mass candling methods reveal most blood spots and those eggs are removed, but even with electronic spotters, it is impossible to catch all of them. If desired, the spot can be removed with the tip of a clean knife prior to cooking. These eggs are safe to eat.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggs/FAQ.htm

[Hopewell]

We've just removed the blood spot before eating, but only because it's a bit unsightly. I'm sure we must have eaten some that have been baked with.

[SallyintNorth]

Well I'm one of the people who thought it meant the egg was fertilised.  We have a cockerel running with the hens, so we just eat the eggs pretty much whatever they look like.  They all taste great, bloodspots and all.

[Womble]

That's the problem - folks are now aghast if they find a blood spot in an egg, a caterpillar in their cabbage, etc etc. Just means everything has to be blitzed with pesticides etc. I have a friend who won't touch our free range eggs because they don't have little lions on them, but will quite happily buy battery eggs from the supermarket  . I told her it was because we hadn't had our hens had run out of ink, and I honestly think she half believed me! 

I spent my early years in Zambia, where my parents had to sieve all the wholemeal flour to get rid of weevils. The white flour didn't have this problem, and my Dad assumed this was because it was more refined. A friend soon put him right though - "Oh, they can't live in the white flour - there's not enough nutrition in it for them!!" 

[SallyintNorth]

A farming friend's daughter was told not to lick her mixing bowl in school cookery class "because your home-produced eggs are not certified salmonella-free".   

[darkbrowneggs]

A farming friend's daughter was told not to lick her mixing bowl in school cookery class "because your home-produced eggs are not certified salmonella-free".   

I am sure I read recently that a mother was not allowed to send in a birthday cake to school for her son's birthday as she had used her own eggs.   

I spent my early years in Zambia, where my parents had to sieve all the wholemeal flour to get rid of weevils. The white flour didn't have this problem, and my Dad assumed this was because it was more refined. A friend soon put him right though - "Oh, they can't live in the white flour - there's not enough nutrition in it for them!!"    

Priceless 

[northfifeduckling]

mine are allowed to lick any of my mixing bowls but not in any other houses 
I found some grey matter on the outside of the duck yolk once or twice - any idea what that could have been? I applied the same - scraped it off with a sharp spoon. None of the eggs had been sat on  so not embyonic tissue

[little blue]

I found some grey matter on the outside of the duck yolk once or twice - any idea what that could have been?

probably best not to dwell on it!!
 does the saying about "eat a peck of dirt before you die" have a caveat about chicken sh*t?!!

[northfifeduckling]