Always clean your hands with warm water and soap before and after handling raw eggs.

Hard-cooked eggs for Easter celebrations should be prepared with food safety in mind.

If you plan to eat the Easter eggs you decorate, be sure to use only food grade dye. (Some people make two sets of eggs - one for decorating and hiding, another for eating. Others use plastic eggs for hiding.)

For an Easter egg hunt, avoid cracking the egg shells.  If the shells crack, then bacteria could enter and contaminate the egg inside.

Also, hide eggs in places that are protected from dirt, pets and other bacteria sources and keep hard -cooked eggs chilled in the refrigerator until just before the hunt.

The total time for hiding and hunting eggs should be no more than two hours.  Then be sure to refrigerate the "found" eggs right away until you eat them.

Eggs found hours later or the next day should be thrown out — not eaten!

When shell eggs are hard-cooked, the protective coating is cleaned away, leaving open pores in the shell where harmful bacteria could enter.

Be sure to refrigerate eggs within two hours of cooking and use them within a week.

Source:  USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service