Hi LLL
Salmonella bacteria can be found in eggs, but it is not considered as the widespread problem it once was. I think the chances of you consuming a Salmonella infected egg are about 1/40 000. Whether it's a too big risk to take, is for you to decide. Safest bet is to eat eggs that are organic/free range, as most Salmonella incidents happened in battery hens eggs.
As for the guy who said that raw eggs don't contain as much protein as cooked. Well, he's sort of correct...
As the counter arguments and objectors claim, cooked and raw eggs contain the same amount of protein. However, it's how the egg is absorbed that is important here. Scientific evidence through experimental studies found that the cooked eggs' protein were better digested than raw eggs:
"Egg white protein is generally considered to be less digestible than heat-pretreated egg white protein. However, no data are available concerning the magnitude of this impairment in vivo. In this study, it was shown that after ingestion of 25 g of raw egg protein, almost 50% is malabsorbed over 24 h. The higher digestibility of cooked egg protein presumably results from structural changes in the protein molecule induced by heating, thereby enabling the digestive enzymes to gain broader access to the peptide bonds. It has been suggested that the reduced digestibility of raw egg white is at least partially related to the presence of trypsin inhibitors in raw egg white." (
Matthews 1990).
I think the study claims that only 10-15% of cooked eggs was malabsorbed versus the 50% in raw eggs.
I hope this helps clarify things a bit.
Craig