Common Food Accidents: Is It Safe To Eat Eggshells?

When it comes to eggshells, rogue shards of shells will certainly make for an unsavory surprise in fluffy omelets and silky scrambled eggs, but is it safe to eat eggshells? Not only are eggshells perfectly edible, but studies suggest that there's enough reason to add them to your diet.

While egg whites are mostly water and yolks are made of lipid fats, the outer shell of an egg is high in calcium carbonate. In fact, 95% of an eggshell is comprised of calcium, and the rest is made of phosphorous and magnesium as well as small amounts of manganese, potassium, sodium, zinc, iron, and copper . A good quality egg picked up from a supermarket generally has about 2.2 grams of calcium. Because the National Institutes of Health recommends that all adults between the age of 19 and 50 consume one gram of calcium a day, a single eggshell can make for twice the daily recommended intake of calcium. 

Eggshells are also an effective supplement that can be used to improve bone strength as well as potentially better your joints. Although eggshells are edible, it does not mean that you should go about eating shards of the shell for breakfast every day. On the contrary, Healthline recommends that only the eggshells that are cooked and blitzed into a powder are safe to eat.

The reason that many people throw away eggshells is due to the fact that they're coarse and could be harmful to one's digestive system. According to Healthline, rough shards when swallowed can damage your esophagus and your throat. If you are planning to incorporate eggshells into your diet, you should always blitz them into a smooth powder before consuming them. Most calcium supplements made from eggs tend to come in a powdered form.

Additionally, much like raw eggs, uncooked eggshells have the potential of containing bacteria like salmonella, which can make a person sick. Before being ground into a powder, eggshells should always be boiled first to get rid of its bacteria. Alternatively, the shells of raw or boiled eggs can also be set aside to dry and baked in an oven. A scoop of powdered eggshell can then be added to pizzas, toast, smoothies, or even used with coffee grounds to brew a cup of joe that's loaded with calcium.