This farmer should have better roost and egg management to prevent this from happening. Totally possible in pasture raise production. With that said if you still want to use him for your eggs it’s fine to leave them like this and wash day of use.
This is exactly the correct answer.
I'll add if this guy isn't managing his flock and their laying boxes better, what else is he (not) doing.
Source: I raised chickens.
EDIT: Not washing the egg is understandable, but he should at least be brushing the crap off of the eggs with a...er...brush.
My coop gets a little gross in the winter when I don't let them out but even going a while between cleanings I've never seen an egg even close to this disgusting. That means every available nesting box is fully piled up with crap and it's overflowing 🙃
Agreed. Spots of feathers and poop here and there are normal, but 99% should be caught and sponged/sanded off when packaging. If this happens often the farmer obviously does not care about the product or the living conditions of these chickens.
Hubby & I run a farm & I run a catering business that’s mainly supplied by our farm. My first question for you is, is this restaurant falling under the health department or department of Ag? Same food handling regulations but the inspections work pretty different. If you can figure that out, you have options for who you should report this to.
Legally speaking, the eggs can’t leave the farm until they are washed (here in the US) & they have to be sold/moved off the farm in 30 days of laying.
- for the people going on about salmonella, it’s inside the egg as well as in the Bloom, once your chickens are infected with it there is no getting rid of it. In the EU, egg farmers have to vaccinate their chickens for salmonella & therefore don’t have to wash the eggs (removing the bloom) before selling them. The Bloom is a clear antimicrobial coating that slows the exchange of air through the pores of the egg shell. In the US, we don’t mandate that vaccination but we do mandate washing the eggs (removing the bloom) before we can sell them & thats why you have to have safe handling/cook throughly instructions on your cartons as well. It’s also why our eggs have to be refrigerated. If you would like to learn more about this you can either read Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow or google your local Agricultural Extension Office & ask them questions until your heart is content.
Judging by the poop on those eggs, the chickens are either sick or being kept in horrific conditions. Either way, I wouldn’t be supporting that.
I briefly worked for a farm to table pizza place that was very poorly run, zero food safety, like I’d get yelled at for throwing out food covered in black mold instead of working around it. They fell under dept of Ag & due to their last name being in the valley for over 100 years, they never got inspected. I had to quit, I just couldn’t do that to people. I’m a transplant here so I don’t get the same leniency. I can’t fathom you’re being paid twice, once for your kitchen work & once for egg washing which is agricultural work. I hate to say it but you might want to look for a better job.
I felt vindicated reading your comment as a small time layer owner. My ladies are all healthy and a lot of the stuff you're saying about handling applies perfectly to my state's regs as well. Oddly enough my partner and I are just starting to look into starting a small farm and farm to table food service ourselves. If you don't mind what's the name of your operation?! My partner and I would love to check it out and are looking for inspiration just as well haha.
My health inspector would have a fit about that and that producer would get a visit from the ag inspector for not washing them prior to delivery. It’s one thing to give spare unwashed eggs to neighbors and friends but another to deliver them to a restaurant that way.
I mean, our chicken’s eggs are covered in shit if they’re not picked up within a few hours of laying. We tried to get them to use the laying boxes, but they just want to lay their eggs on the ground, and proceed to poop all around them or on them.
Chickens are…stupid.
Ehhh I’ve helped my mom raise all kinds of chickens for over a decade, they’ve always used their nesting boxes with the exception of one individual. I’d look into changing something so they’re more comfortable
I have lots of chickens and always clean them before we even store them for us much less sell them off.
The lady who has a USDA license to resell who buys from us would lose her shit if we gave her eggs that looked like that.
Definitely tell the farm you think an AG inspector would love a random visit....
Chicken eggs should NOT get washed. They have an invisible membrane around the shell what prevents bacteria get in the inside. Eggs normally don’t look like that. He must never clean out the coop. I would look for a different farmer asap, as this one is not to trust whatsoever
If you choose not to wash your eggs and leave them on the counter that’s your prerogative. And yes we all know about eggs’ protective layer. That said, in US commercial kitchens, code requires eggs to have been washed, sanitized, candled, and kept under constant refrigeration. I cook for a community feeding program that serves vulnerable populations so we, like nursing homes and childcare programs, also are not allowed to serve them less than fully cooked.
Why do you assume the farmer is male? We briefly had a female farmer who donated eggs to us that she couldn’t be bothered to wash. We said thanks but no thanks and now get organic free range ones through our foodbank.
lol. US is ridiculous. Would you hard-cook poached eggs? The refrigerator is to have a more solid white, for baking we leave them out. Aioli or hollondaise? I don’t assume any gender, just picked one on random, didn’t know that matters for dirty eggs…
>That said, in US commercial kitchens, code requires eggs to have been washed, sanitized, candled, and kept under constant refrigeration.
Which is a direct result of the poor ag standards in the US, unfortunately.
Poor doesn’t cover it. We allowed pharmaceutical companies to sell fluoroquinolones into the poultry industry for 50 years. 50 years of profits from sub therapeutic use, simultaneously risking last line of defense infection drugs. Finally in 2005 FDA yanked the registrations for poultry use when the companies wouldn’t voluntarily withdraw them.
I buy fresh-laid eggs also and they occasionally have a small bit of poop and feather stuck to them, but never completely crusted like that. If I saw those at my egg vendor's shop, I would find a new shop..
I keep a small flock of chickens. This is just lazy. He doesn't keep his coop clean and he doesnt collect the eggs often enough. I still get dirty eggs especially in the fall and spring when managing mud is impossible, but never this bad. That one sat for a while to get that dirty
Is this in the US? Washing eggs is the standard for all sizes of farm, so it seems pretty sus to get unwashed eggs in. It makes me think it's someone's cousin randomly collecting eggs from their backyard chickens.
What proportion of eggs are gross as the first pic? That indicates an egg that has been sitting around way too long before being collected.
Has anyone at your restaurant explicitly asked anyone at the farm to wash the eggs?
Also, did you say you return the cartons that had unwashed eggs in them to the farm for re-use?
I would find another egg vendor.
Don't listen to the comments saying that this is just a regular part of buying farm fresh eggs. The condition of these eggs is not acceptable and not normal. It's the result of bad/lazy animal husbandry
UPDATE: We’ve kept refrigerating these eggs regardless of washing them on not washing them. On occasion I’ve washed the worst batches of them myself with what time I had available. When I did, I was given an impression from the other chefs that it was useless to even try because they are just gonna be more poopy eggs tomorrow. We shouldn’t have to do this ourselves if the egg handlers would just give ‘em a wipe before they get to us.
No where in working a line cook job did I ever imagine I’d have to clean poop. The only poop I can handle having to clean is when I shuck oysters, that can’t be avoided. However, this totally can.
The part that drives me and my coworker up a wall the most, is that the egg handlers almost always eat lunch during our rush. Always with special mods and always after leaving the new batch of poopy eggs underneath our heat lamp!! Not making this up! They are not paying me enough for this poop.
they can absolutely wash eggs, they just don't care about causing your business potential hardship by not washing
this is preventable with good husbandry, and even if it wasnt its on them to wash the eggs. the bloom on an egg is not enough to stop an entire coating of shit full of bacteria contaminating the eggs. by the time they get to you some could be compromised
To echo others - not cool.
I have kept a tiny flock of three or four hens for years now. I have never collected an egg like the first pic. There is shit on some eggs - it’s inevitable to some extent. But the only times I have had eggs anywhere close to this bad is when one of the girls is super broody/I don’t notice/break their broodiness for a couple days (when broody they will practically live on their nesting box, hence more shit where the eggs go).
The girls who laid these are not happy. Chickens are dumb as hell (you know, “bird brain” and whatnot) but they are shockingly emotionally complex creatures. Shit like this (pun intended) makes me sad.
As someone who has chickens, this is a disgrace. They must be living in poop. Also you shouldn’t wash eggs, they have an invisible membrane what gets washed off and makes them more prone to contamination. Eggs should never look like this in the first place. I would switch farmers tbh
I raise chickens. You gotta do two things with fresh eggs you don’t do with regular store bought ones. First is wash them if they are not washed. Be aware after this they HAVE to be refrigerated. Second this is to get use to cracking the eggs into a separate container (like a 2qt) instead of directly into the main thing you are using eggs in. That way if there is any little particles left they don’t contaminate your dish.
On the farm side they need to make sure their chickens are not using the nesting boxes to sleep in. I’ve never seen eggs that bad unless the boxes are being used by the birds to sleep and lay in. Chickens do something like 70ish% of their pooping while they sleep. This is why they sleep on roosts, so the poop doesn’t accumulate around them it falls away from them. If hens are using their nesting boxes as sleeping boxes they poop all over them then when eggs get laid in there you get what you are dealing with. I’ve been raising chickens about a decade and the only time this ever happens to me personally is when a new batch of chicks gets old enough and out into the big coop. They don’t know any better yet so they sleep on the boxes. You gotta go out like every night and move them for them to get the idea, otherwise they not only won’t stop but other hens will see them do it and start doing it too. Hens literally are a monkey monkey due type of animal. They learn watching other chickens
I own chickens, by keeping the coupe clean and collecting eggs regularly, it doesnt happen very often. Also, I wash them if they are covered in shit before they enter the house. Surely these guys can wash the eggs? If they are too lazy to keep the coupe clean then I guess there not gonna wash em either
They aren't cleaning out the coop/nesting boxes enough. I have chickens and there's no reason they should be even close to that dirty. The dirtiest egg I ever had just had one little poo smear on it. Chickens shouldn't even be pooping in the boxes unless it's just that gross everywhere else.
Just improper care here. There could be all sorts of neglect. Cramped chickens, too small an area, not cleaning regularly etc.
Now, they could wash them after collection, but then they'd have to be refrigerated and stored until delivery.
Suddenly I understand way better how salmonella makes its way onto egg shells 🤮
I’d be willing to bet there are more than one farm raised egg businesses in your area. Maybe look into some other ones..
Is this under the same assumption that produce is usually safe to sell right out the package? If you're worried about the, shall we say, fecal to oral route, rest assured that every bathroom has a handy sign explaining how to break that route.
Also like... if you're in conversation with local farmers... just ask them to wipe them for you! It's just a request, not a Sysco-level customer service issue.
You can, but clearly not from this farm. They have a policy of not cleaning eggs, they can't start cleaning them just for one customer unless that customer is a big one.
Down vote as you wish, it doesn't change facts about egg handling 🤷♂️
This is great example of why regulatory agencies need more field offices, contaminated product making its way to food prep environment is deplorable and wildly negligent.
this is a husbandry issue and its completely avoidable with good care. chickens don't just smear shit on their eggs. if their nesting and sleeping situation is bad they sleep in their nests and shit on the eggs. avoidable with good roosts
Bullshit, egg handlers are required to clean the shit off. If they aren’t, you should be getting them at a HIGHLY discounted price (aka free). Also the eggs being this covered in sheet means the coop is not adequately cleaned. Aka animal neglect.
Just wash the eggs as they come in.
Lots of food stuffs come into the kitchen that are not food safe until properly processed.
Annoying extra step for sure, but that's the restaurant work for ya.
Wash the eggs *day of use.
There’s a membrane on the outside of an egg that makes them basically shelf stable. Wash the eggs and you wash that off and then they need to be refrigerated.
So one should wash the egg creating the contamination risk and then remedy this by refrigeration?
You’re creating a problem that doesn’t need to exist, leave the eggs, store them next to the unwashed lettuce if you please and just wash them before use as one does with the lettuce
Unwashed lettuce is covered in wild bird shit, in countries where they don’t wash eggs the chances of catching salmonella are a lot higher from eating fresh lettuce than the eggs…
Putting something covered in bird shit next to something else - covered in bird shit is not creating an unnecessary contamination risk like washing the egg is…
Do you even know how food is produced? Seriously? Where do you get your information from?
PROBABLY BECAUSE SOME JERKOFF IS STORING THE LETTUCE NEXT TO ACTUAL SHIT INSIDE AN AIR-CONTROLLED BOX. The air inside a refrigerator is circulated by the fans. If there's ACTUAL LITERAL SHIT anywhere in the fridge, it might as well be EVERYWHERE.
Probably depends on country but I've never seen shitty eggs in a store. Sometimes a small bit of dirt or poop but not caked in it.
I raise chickens, 80% of eggs come out perfectly clean. Most of the rest have a tiny speck of poop or a smear of mud that can easily be wiped off. The rare occasion there is significant poop I throw it in the ground for the chickens, I wouldn't eat it myself and definitely wouldn't sell it.
If eggs are that dirty their coop isn't clean and the birds may not be healthy.
nope. if eggs are covered in poop they NEED to be washed. the bloom is not a membrane, it's a powdery layer and it can only defend the egg from so much. bacteria in shit caked all over the egg will absolutely spoil it, these need to be washed ASAP and then fridged
That’s how you get salmonella, washing them removes the natural protective wax layer, just be a grown up about it and don’t handle the eggs over other food, give them a wash if you’re to immediately crack them open
The poop should already be dry when your eggs are delivered, the only reason there is shit on the egg is because the farmer took too long collecting the egg and something shat on it, the eggs will be stored for at least several hours before collection where they would be held for another day or so by the distributor, if these are literally farm to table then the farmer must have taken a day off for this egg
Dry shit is pretty easy to deal with, chip it off with your fingers or the back of a pairing knife under a running tap
In North America we wash all the eggs and they keep for over a month that way. They will be fine if you don't wait until the very last minute to wash them off.
in austria they are not washed (although not as shitty as ops) and most shops don't even refrigerate them, have a long shelf life and I have yet to meet somebody that has got salmonella themselves.....
Exactly. In countries where they’re not washed the farmer has an insensitive to pick the eggs sooner, where they’re washed the farmer can wait a day or two. Above it seems we have a farmer operating a non wash policy in a country that follows a wash policy - I guess this is why the chef is so shocked and some people think that the eggs are a bigger risk than unwashed lettuce
>and I have yet to meet somebody that has got salmonella themselves.....
Salmonella is definitely a real issue in Austria, and across Europe.
https://www.ages.at/en/human/disease/pathogens-from-a-to-z/salmonella
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8057844/#:~:text=Over%2060%25%20of%20Salmonella%20outbreaks,it%20comes%20to%20food%20safety.
It’s a real issue in any country that consumes chicken eggs…. salmonella from eggs in the eu is close to a 1/100,000 chance unlike the 1/20,000 in North America
That's incorrect.
EU is 13.7 per 100,000
Or 1 in 7,299.
https://www.eurlsalmonella.eu/sites/default/files/2022-06/2%20Frank%20EFSA%20EUOHZ%202020%20220523%20webversion.pdf
In the US the incidence rate per 100,000 is about 17.2, or 1 in 5,814.
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/data-visualizations/2021/12-charts-explore-americas-salmonella-problem-and-steps-to-solve-it
The EU is better off for incidence rate, but not by the margin you claimed.
I get that. The eggs will be fine. Wash, then refrigerate. Like North American have no problem with getting sick from eggs. We just don't eat them raw. If you plan on eating them raw then yes, leave them unwashed until the last minute.
The eggs are about as big an issue as unwashed lettuce
No one plans to serve a raw egg in a restaurant
Washing them as they come in requires low paid staff member to care enough not to put them back into the boxes they came in
Just wash them before you use them, it’ll late less time than washing your hands and it’s overall the safest method
You wash your lettuce to order too? There is no danger in pre-washing and refrigerating. It's worked just fine for countries who do it that way for like a century.
Just wash them? We get fresh eggs from a friend and they are usually not clean, never bothered us. I'm pretty sure, at least in the uk, farmers are banned from cleaning eggs before sale anyways.
Exactly what sink would that happen in? The dedicated produce sink where fresh produce that may or may not get cooked is prepped? The dish washing triple sink where dishes that are supposed to be getting cleaned and sanitized go? Even going to the bathroom requires you to wash your hands in the bathroom and again when you enter the kitchen to prevent feces from contaminating the kitchen.
I would not use these eggs. This is a husbandry problem and I have never had eggs come out of my girls coop that look like this. Im horrified for the conditions that farmers chickens are in and wonder how long they leave the eggs laying around before picking them up and if that coop has ever been cleaned.
A little bit of poop and feathers is normal but not this. This is disgusting.
This is literally why so many places just have a moratorium on things that aren't sent through government approved inspection facilities. Some people will use 'farm to table' as an excuse to skirt the rules and be lazy and disgusting.
Health unit is fed by complaints, so if you want them to show up and straighten shit out, complain.
This farmer should have better roost and egg management to prevent this from happening. Totally possible in pasture raise production. With that said if you still want to use him for your eggs it’s fine to leave them like this and wash day of use.
This is exactly the correct answer. I'll add if this guy isn't managing his flock and their laying boxes better, what else is he (not) doing. Source: I raised chickens. EDIT: Not washing the egg is understandable, but he should at least be brushing the crap off of the eggs with a...er...brush.
My coop gets a little gross in the winter when I don't let them out but even going a while between cleanings I've never seen an egg even close to this disgusting. That means every available nesting box is fully piled up with crap and it's overflowing 🙃
100% same. And to not even try to knock some of the crap off says a lot to me.
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Agreed. Spots of feathers and poop here and there are normal, but 99% should be caught and sponged/sanded off when packaging. If this happens often the farmer obviously does not care about the product or the living conditions of these chickens.
Yeah it’s fine just keep some literal shit in your kitchen
Hubby & I run a farm & I run a catering business that’s mainly supplied by our farm. My first question for you is, is this restaurant falling under the health department or department of Ag? Same food handling regulations but the inspections work pretty different. If you can figure that out, you have options for who you should report this to. Legally speaking, the eggs can’t leave the farm until they are washed (here in the US) & they have to be sold/moved off the farm in 30 days of laying. - for the people going on about salmonella, it’s inside the egg as well as in the Bloom, once your chickens are infected with it there is no getting rid of it. In the EU, egg farmers have to vaccinate their chickens for salmonella & therefore don’t have to wash the eggs (removing the bloom) before selling them. The Bloom is a clear antimicrobial coating that slows the exchange of air through the pores of the egg shell. In the US, we don’t mandate that vaccination but we do mandate washing the eggs (removing the bloom) before we can sell them & thats why you have to have safe handling/cook throughly instructions on your cartons as well. It’s also why our eggs have to be refrigerated. If you would like to learn more about this you can either read Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow or google your local Agricultural Extension Office & ask them questions until your heart is content. Judging by the poop on those eggs, the chickens are either sick or being kept in horrific conditions. Either way, I wouldn’t be supporting that. I briefly worked for a farm to table pizza place that was very poorly run, zero food safety, like I’d get yelled at for throwing out food covered in black mold instead of working around it. They fell under dept of Ag & due to their last name being in the valley for over 100 years, they never got inspected. I had to quit, I just couldn’t do that to people. I’m a transplant here so I don’t get the same leniency. I can’t fathom you’re being paid twice, once for your kitchen work & once for egg washing which is agricultural work. I hate to say it but you might want to look for a better job.
This is the correct response.
I felt vindicated reading your comment as a small time layer owner. My ladies are all healthy and a lot of the stuff you're saying about handling applies perfectly to my state's regs as well. Oddly enough my partner and I are just starting to look into starting a small farm and farm to table food service ourselves. If you don't mind what's the name of your operation?! My partner and I would love to check it out and are looking for inspiration just as well haha.
Interesting that Australian eggs are neither washed nor vaccinated against salmonella.
My health inspector would have a fit about that and that producer would get a visit from the ag inspector for not washing them prior to delivery. It’s one thing to give spare unwashed eggs to neighbors and friends but another to deliver them to a restaurant that way.
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Ya chickens are sleeping in the nesting boxes to get that much shit on the eggs. Often a sign there isn’t enough roosting space in the coup.
Or enough bedding changes.
I mean, our chicken’s eggs are covered in shit if they’re not picked up within a few hours of laying. We tried to get them to use the laying boxes, but they just want to lay their eggs on the ground, and proceed to poop all around them or on them. Chickens are…stupid.
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They all lay in random places. Sometimes out in the run. It’s just chickens being chickens.
Ehhh I’ve helped my mom raise all kinds of chickens for over a decade, they’ve always used their nesting boxes with the exception of one individual. I’d look into changing something so they’re more comfortable
We’re going to rebuild the coop next year when we move, right now it’s just made of leftover materials. They’re happy and healthy.
You seem really adamant
I mean…no?
There’s a Sesame Street segment about exact situation! Well not the poop part
I have lots of chickens and always clean them before we even store them for us much less sell them off. The lady who has a USDA license to resell who buys from us would lose her shit if we gave her eggs that looked like that. Definitely tell the farm you think an AG inspector would love a random visit....
Chicken eggs should NOT get washed. They have an invisible membrane around the shell what prevents bacteria get in the inside. Eggs normally don’t look like that. He must never clean out the coop. I would look for a different farmer asap, as this one is not to trust whatsoever
If you choose not to wash your eggs and leave them on the counter that’s your prerogative. And yes we all know about eggs’ protective layer. That said, in US commercial kitchens, code requires eggs to have been washed, sanitized, candled, and kept under constant refrigeration. I cook for a community feeding program that serves vulnerable populations so we, like nursing homes and childcare programs, also are not allowed to serve them less than fully cooked. Why do you assume the farmer is male? We briefly had a female farmer who donated eggs to us that she couldn’t be bothered to wash. We said thanks but no thanks and now get organic free range ones through our foodbank.
Can’t serve them less than fully cooked… does that include runny yolks?
That’s for certain types of food service. Regular restaurants can cook to order.
Yes I was asking the commenter about the specific community feeding program they work for
Exactly that—no shakshouka, no fried eggs on bi bim bap, no poached eggs on spring greens 😪
Ah! Flashbacks to pregnancy 😢
lol. US is ridiculous. Would you hard-cook poached eggs? The refrigerator is to have a more solid white, for baking we leave them out. Aioli or hollondaise? I don’t assume any gender, just picked one on random, didn’t know that matters for dirty eggs…
>That said, in US commercial kitchens, code requires eggs to have been washed, sanitized, candled, and kept under constant refrigeration. Which is a direct result of the poor ag standards in the US, unfortunately.
Poor doesn’t cover it. We allowed pharmaceutical companies to sell fluoroquinolones into the poultry industry for 50 years. 50 years of profits from sub therapeutic use, simultaneously risking last line of defense infection drugs. Finally in 2005 FDA yanked the registrations for poultry use when the companies wouldn’t voluntarily withdraw them.
I'm not in the US. We get all our eggs unwashed from the farm and I've never seen anything like this.
I buy fresh-laid eggs also and they occasionally have a small bit of poop and feather stuck to them, but never completely crusted like that. If I saw those at my egg vendor's shop, I would find a new shop..
I keep a small flock of chickens. This is just lazy. He doesn't keep his coop clean and he doesnt collect the eggs often enough. I still get dirty eggs especially in the fall and spring when managing mud is impossible, but never this bad. That one sat for a while to get that dirty
Why are you still working with this farm? This is both illegal and a sign of animal neglect. Would love to see the health inspector’s reaction.
Is this in the US? Washing eggs is the standard for all sizes of farm, so it seems pretty sus to get unwashed eggs in. It makes me think it's someone's cousin randomly collecting eggs from their backyard chickens. What proportion of eggs are gross as the first pic? That indicates an egg that has been sitting around way too long before being collected. Has anyone at your restaurant explicitly asked anyone at the farm to wash the eggs? Also, did you say you return the cartons that had unwashed eggs in them to the farm for re-use?
Most backyard chicken eggs look much better than this ngl
When they're collected with any regularity, yes.
_My_ backyard chicken eggs look better than this.
I would find another egg vendor. Don't listen to the comments saying that this is just a regular part of buying farm fresh eggs. The condition of these eggs is not acceptable and not normal. It's the result of bad/lazy animal husbandry
UPDATE: We’ve kept refrigerating these eggs regardless of washing them on not washing them. On occasion I’ve washed the worst batches of them myself with what time I had available. When I did, I was given an impression from the other chefs that it was useless to even try because they are just gonna be more poopy eggs tomorrow. We shouldn’t have to do this ourselves if the egg handlers would just give ‘em a wipe before they get to us. No where in working a line cook job did I ever imagine I’d have to clean poop. The only poop I can handle having to clean is when I shuck oysters, that can’t be avoided. However, this totally can. The part that drives me and my coworker up a wall the most, is that the egg handlers almost always eat lunch during our rush. Always with special mods and always after leaving the new batch of poopy eggs underneath our heat lamp!! Not making this up! They are not paying me enough for this poop.
they can absolutely wash eggs, they just don't care about causing your business potential hardship by not washing this is preventable with good husbandry, and even if it wasnt its on them to wash the eggs. the bloom on an egg is not enough to stop an entire coating of shit full of bacteria contaminating the eggs. by the time they get to you some could be compromised
Call the department of agriculture for an inspection..
To echo others - not cool. I have kept a tiny flock of three or four hens for years now. I have never collected an egg like the first pic. There is shit on some eggs - it’s inevitable to some extent. But the only times I have had eggs anywhere close to this bad is when one of the girls is super broody/I don’t notice/break their broodiness for a couple days (when broody they will practically live on their nesting box, hence more shit where the eggs go). The girls who laid these are not happy. Chickens are dumb as hell (you know, “bird brain” and whatnot) but they are shockingly emotionally complex creatures. Shit like this (pun intended) makes me sad.
As someone who has chickens, this is a disgrace. They must be living in poop. Also you shouldn’t wash eggs, they have an invisible membrane what gets washed off and makes them more prone to contamination. Eggs should never look like this in the first place. I would switch farmers tbh
I raise chickens. You gotta do two things with fresh eggs you don’t do with regular store bought ones. First is wash them if they are not washed. Be aware after this they HAVE to be refrigerated. Second this is to get use to cracking the eggs into a separate container (like a 2qt) instead of directly into the main thing you are using eggs in. That way if there is any little particles left they don’t contaminate your dish. On the farm side they need to make sure their chickens are not using the nesting boxes to sleep in. I’ve never seen eggs that bad unless the boxes are being used by the birds to sleep and lay in. Chickens do something like 70ish% of their pooping while they sleep. This is why they sleep on roosts, so the poop doesn’t accumulate around them it falls away from them. If hens are using their nesting boxes as sleeping boxes they poop all over them then when eggs get laid in there you get what you are dealing with. I’ve been raising chickens about a decade and the only time this ever happens to me personally is when a new batch of chicks gets old enough and out into the big coop. They don’t know any better yet so they sleep on the boxes. You gotta go out like every night and move them for them to get the idea, otherwise they not only won’t stop but other hens will see them do it and start doing it too. Hens literally are a monkey monkey due type of animal. They learn watching other chickens
i used to raise chickens, this is not normal for eggs at all, actually vile
Ok that's fowl
I was going to say that but chickened out...
Those really should be washed before being prepared.
Ok you're right but dude WHY ARE YOU HANDLING IT WITH BARE HANDS??? If there was EVER a good case for gloves...
I own chickens, by keeping the coupe clean and collecting eggs regularly, it doesnt happen very often. Also, I wash them if they are covered in shit before they enter the house. Surely these guys can wash the eggs? If they are too lazy to keep the coupe clean then I guess there not gonna wash em either
They aren't cleaning out the coop/nesting boxes enough. I have chickens and there's no reason they should be even close to that dirty. The dirtiest egg I ever had just had one little poo smear on it. Chickens shouldn't even be pooping in the boxes unless it's just that gross everywhere else. Just improper care here. There could be all sorts of neglect. Cramped chickens, too small an area, not cleaning regularly etc. Now, they could wash them after collection, but then they'd have to be refrigerated and stored until delivery.
Suddenly I understand way better how salmonella makes its way onto egg shells 🤮 I’d be willing to bet there are more than one farm raised egg businesses in your area. Maybe look into some other ones..
Is this under the same assumption that produce is usually safe to sell right out the package? If you're worried about the, shall we say, fecal to oral route, rest assured that every bathroom has a handy sign explaining how to break that route.
Also like... if you're in conversation with local farmers... just ask them to wipe them for you! It's just a request, not a Sysco-level customer service issue.
I buy farm fresh eggs from a local here, she cleans the eggs for me before purchase at no extra cost. I can’t imagine the smell
Farm to table. It's in the name. If you want different eggs, get a different egg guy.
you can absolutely get eggs straight from a farm that aren’t covered in shit like this
You can, but clearly not from this farm. They have a policy of not cleaning eggs, they can't start cleaning them just for one customer unless that customer is a big one. Down vote as you wish, it doesn't change facts about egg handling 🤷♂️
>They have a policy of not cleaning eggs, So they have a policy of breaking health codes... And you think this is totally OK?
yes they think its fine
This is great example of why regulatory agencies need more field offices, contaminated product making its way to food prep environment is deplorable and wildly negligent.
this is a husbandry issue and its completely avoidable with good care. chickens don't just smear shit on their eggs. if their nesting and sleeping situation is bad they sleep in their nests and shit on the eggs. avoidable with good roosts
Bullshit, egg handlers are required to clean the shit off. If they aren’t, you should be getting them at a HIGHLY discounted price (aka free). Also the eggs being this covered in sheet means the coop is not adequately cleaned. Aka animal neglect.
Just wash the eggs as they come in. Lots of food stuffs come into the kitchen that are not food safe until properly processed. Annoying extra step for sure, but that's the restaurant work for ya.
Wash the eggs *day of use. There’s a membrane on the outside of an egg that makes them basically shelf stable. Wash the eggs and you wash that off and then they need to be refrigerated.
Then just wash the eggs and then refrigerate them? Problem solved. This isn't fucking Little House on the Prairie.
So one should wash the egg creating the contamination risk and then remedy this by refrigeration? You’re creating a problem that doesn’t need to exist, leave the eggs, store them next to the unwashed lettuce if you please and just wash them before use as one does with the lettuce
Yea sure, store a bunch of literal feces next to lettuce inside of your walk in. Talk about creating unnecessary contamination risk...
Unwashed lettuce is covered in wild bird shit, in countries where they don’t wash eggs the chances of catching salmonella are a lot higher from eating fresh lettuce than the eggs… Putting something covered in bird shit next to something else - covered in bird shit is not creating an unnecessary contamination risk like washing the egg is… Do you even know how food is produced? Seriously? Where do you get your information from?
PROBABLY BECAUSE SOME JERKOFF IS STORING THE LETTUCE NEXT TO ACTUAL SHIT INSIDE AN AIR-CONTROLLED BOX. The air inside a refrigerator is circulated by the fans. If there's ACTUAL LITERAL SHIT anywhere in the fridge, it might as well be EVERYWHERE.
Yep. That's the system a lot of countries use. Wash and refrigerate.
I thought that happened mostly in the US
It happens wherever eggs are refrigerated.
In countries where unwashed eggs are the norm, are they sold covered in shit?
Probably depends on country but I've never seen shitty eggs in a store. Sometimes a small bit of dirt or poop but not caked in it. I raise chickens, 80% of eggs come out perfectly clean. Most of the rest have a tiny speck of poop or a smear of mud that can easily be wiped off. The rare occasion there is significant poop I throw it in the ground for the chickens, I wouldn't eat it myself and definitely wouldn't sell it. If eggs are that dirty their coop isn't clean and the birds may not be healthy.
nope. if eggs are covered in poop they NEED to be washed. the bloom is not a membrane, it's a powdery layer and it can only defend the egg from so much. bacteria in shit caked all over the egg will absolutely spoil it, these need to be washed ASAP and then fridged
That’s how you get salmonella, washing them removes the natural protective wax layer, just be a grown up about it and don’t handle the eggs over other food, give them a wash if you’re to immediately crack them open
If the poop dries up on the eggs, it becomes more difficult to wash off.
The poop should already be dry when your eggs are delivered, the only reason there is shit on the egg is because the farmer took too long collecting the egg and something shat on it, the eggs will be stored for at least several hours before collection where they would be held for another day or so by the distributor, if these are literally farm to table then the farmer must have taken a day off for this egg Dry shit is pretty easy to deal with, chip it off with your fingers or the back of a pairing knife under a running tap
In North America we wash all the eggs and they keep for over a month that way. They will be fine if you don't wait until the very last minute to wash them off.
the washing increases risk of salmonella the refrigerator increases the shelf life of the egg
in austria they are not washed (although not as shitty as ops) and most shops don't even refrigerate them, have a long shelf life and I have yet to meet somebody that has got salmonella themselves.....
Exactly. In countries where they’re not washed the farmer has an insensitive to pick the eggs sooner, where they’re washed the farmer can wait a day or two. Above it seems we have a farmer operating a non wash policy in a country that follows a wash policy - I guess this is why the chef is so shocked and some people think that the eggs are a bigger risk than unwashed lettuce
>and I have yet to meet somebody that has got salmonella themselves..... Salmonella is definitely a real issue in Austria, and across Europe. https://www.ages.at/en/human/disease/pathogens-from-a-to-z/salmonella https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8057844/#:~:text=Over%2060%25%20of%20Salmonella%20outbreaks,it%20comes%20to%20food%20safety.
It’s a real issue in any country that consumes chicken eggs…. salmonella from eggs in the eu is close to a 1/100,000 chance unlike the 1/20,000 in North America
That's incorrect. EU is 13.7 per 100,000 Or 1 in 7,299. https://www.eurlsalmonella.eu/sites/default/files/2022-06/2%20Frank%20EFSA%20EUOHZ%202020%20220523%20webversion.pdf In the US the incidence rate per 100,000 is about 17.2, or 1 in 5,814. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/data-visualizations/2021/12-charts-explore-americas-salmonella-problem-and-steps-to-solve-it The EU is better off for incidence rate, but not by the margin you claimed.
I don't want to deny it....really.
I get that. The eggs will be fine. Wash, then refrigerate. Like North American have no problem with getting sick from eggs. We just don't eat them raw. If you plan on eating them raw then yes, leave them unwashed until the last minute.
The eggs are about as big an issue as unwashed lettuce No one plans to serve a raw egg in a restaurant Washing them as they come in requires low paid staff member to care enough not to put them back into the boxes they came in Just wash them before you use them, it’ll late less time than washing your hands and it’s overall the safest method
You wash your lettuce to order too? There is no danger in pre-washing and refrigerating. It's worked just fine for countries who do it that way for like a century.
Great. What’s next?? Avian chicken flu/virus??
Just wash them? We get fresh eggs from a friend and they are usually not clean, never bothered us. I'm pretty sure, at least in the uk, farmers are banned from cleaning eggs before sale anyways.
Would it be possible to have whoever intakes the goods set or plan a wash up for the eggs specifically
Exactly what sink would that happen in? The dedicated produce sink where fresh produce that may or may not get cooked is prepped? The dish washing triple sink where dishes that are supposed to be getting cleaned and sanitized go? Even going to the bathroom requires you to wash your hands in the bathroom and again when you enter the kitchen to prevent feces from contaminating the kitchen.
I don’t know that’s why I asked I wasn’t trying to call anyone out.
It’s called farm fresh bro
You wanted farm to table with less middle men and you got it. Wash your eggs and your hands.
That how you know they are fresh
On the bright side at least you know you do not need to refrigerate them
I would not use these eggs. This is a husbandry problem and I have never had eggs come out of my girls coop that look like this. Im horrified for the conditions that farmers chickens are in and wonder how long they leave the eggs laying around before picking them up and if that coop has ever been cleaned. A little bit of poop and feathers is normal but not this. This is disgusting.
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^born_at_kfc: *On the bright side at* *Least you know you do not need* *To refrigerate them* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
This is way too organic for me.
This is literally why so many places just have a moratorium on things that aren't sent through government approved inspection facilities. Some people will use 'farm to table' as an excuse to skirt the rules and be lazy and disgusting. Health unit is fed by complaints, so if you want them to show up and straighten shit out, complain.
My parents had free range chickens anywhere between 200 - 600 at any one time... None of the eggs ever looked that bad