Monday, April 28, 2008

Eggs

One of my past posts has started me wondering. The article I posted said that you should put your eggs near the back of the refrigerator so that they can stay colder and not go bad. Well, how long does it take for an egg to go bad? And how long can it be left out without spoiling?

Let me give you a little background…about 10 years ago I lived in Chile for about a year. I can’t recall ever seeing an egg in the refrigerator. In fact, you would see them out on the countertops of the little corner stores where you would buy them. So was I eating dangerous eggs the entire time I was there???

Here's what the American Egg Board has to say about it.

"The oil coating which seals the shell's pores helps to prevent bacteria from entering the egg and reduces moisture loss from the egg. RAW SHELL EGGS REFRIGERATED IN THEIR CARTONS WILL KEEP FOR ABOUT 4 TO 5 WEEKS BEYOND THE PACK DATE WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT QUALITY LOSS. (The pack date is usually a number from 1 to 365 representing the day of the year starting with January 1 as 1 and ending with December 31 as 365.)"

"Properly handled and stored, eggs rarely "spoil". If you keep them long enough, they are more likely to simply dry up! But, don't leave eggs out at room temperature. They'll age more in 1 day at room temperature than they will in 1 week in the refrigerator. Room temperature is also an ideal temperature for bacterial growth."

But I still found plenty of sites where people say that pretty much everywhere but the US people leave their eggs out. Talk about frustrating. A few comments on different answer sites mentioned that there might be a natural film that covers the egg that gets washed off by the USDA required cleaning process in the US. I couldn't find any reliable source for this info though.

It is probably true that they stay fresher LONGER in the fridge. One good thing that has come out of this is that I learned how to tell if an egg is bad or not. Apparently, if you put it in water and it floats, then you know it is bad!

No comments: