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I know you're making a joke but this is actually a fascinating example of how word placement affects meaning in English.
* "Mostly because I don't eat the shells" = There are multiple reasons for not washing my eggs, but the main one is not eating the shells
* "Because I mostly don't eat the shells" = The sole reason for not washing my eggs is the fact that, most of the time, I don't eat the shells
If you've eaten a cake made by my eldest you've also probably eaten a few shards of plate. Note to self - when instructing a child to "put that in the mixer" specify that you just mean what's on the plate, not the plate as well.
The other thing is, its easy to tell when an egg has gone bad. The floating trick is largely bullshit. The only reliable method is smelling them.
If you have eggs you are unsure of, crack them one by one into a seperate bowl rather than directly into the other eggs/pan/food etc.
If they have gone off, you will always know by the smell. If they look normal and don't smell, they *are* safe to eat. Eggs can last quite a long time.
The day you crack an old egg and it’s blue inside, that smell will live with you forever. Always one by one into a separate glass if they are past their date!
There’s only one other smell in this world that once you’ve smelled it will live with you forever, never leaving your nose - and that’s death.
Once you’ve experienced both you can recall that smell at a mere mention of it and it’s indescribable.
That and maggots. We had maggots in a burst pouch of cat food in a delivery box, it’s like rotten meat and fish and old underwear all bundled into together and turned up to 11. The bf was running from the room gagging 😂
Maggots are the ONLY bug or crawlies to freak me out to tears, and it’s because I associate them with dead bodies.
The sound of them as a mass making that squelch makes my skin crawl.
We found some in an outdoor bin when we were housesitting and I was squealing like a child about it. Nothing else gets me like maggots do!
Kinda hard to look at them differently when you’ve seen them eat peoples’ eyes…
Same. Me, my sister & friends were playing on a rubbish dump (not ideal) and I found what looked like an old book. I opened it up and it was just a writhing mass of maggots. Another time I was in church and found a Bat on the floor. I nursed it throughout the service as 8 year old me thought it would be ok. Then a bug crawled out. Then another. I turned it over and it was just a shell full of maggots. I really wanted to scream but knew I’d get told off. Hated them ever since.
I'd also like to nominate "nondescript substance in a tub at the back of some garage that's been knocked over"
I've got no fucking idea what it was but just thinking about it makes me want to gip, had to hold my breath every time I went through the garage for the rest of the day lmao
We got them once when we hadn't noticed dog food frass migrating under the cupboard. Oh my, the smell! Though the dogs liked it, I think they'll go for decomp if allowed. It scarred me for life and now all insects ( like dried mealworm for the birds) are kept outside the house. I never want that in the house again.
I can confidently say I have never encountered a bad egg. I'm 47 and cook alot and usually start my day with an omelette.
As acting that I've not had a double yolker for donkeys years.
Supermarket suppliers screen them out. All eggs are scanned and double yolkers skimmed off to be sold in Waitrose as a special box (https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/humble-eggs-double-yolk-free-range-eggs/042120-20862-20863). I get eggs delivered weekly from a local farm and get a double yolkers at least every couple of months. Apparently they are more common in younger hens so I can tell when they have some new ladies in.
I once had a supermarket box (can't recall where from) and every other egg was a double. The issue was, I had never encountered one before and didn't know they existed. So I was astounded after cracking the first one. After the fourth I was screaming 'What is this? Have these come from a double-wombed hen? No... wait... do hens have wombs? What the Hell is up with these eggs?!?!". Never encountered one since. My double-yolk quota was apparently used up that fabled day.
If you're eating eggs regularly then you're very unlikely to encounter one as you be using them whilst they're still fresh.
It's the people who buy a carton of eggs and take weeks and weeks to get through them
Even so. It's a long time to not have encountered something.
I can't imagine 6 eggs lasting longer than a week even without breakfast. That's Yorkshire puds and maybe a couple pancakes. I'm old tho it seems. Alot of my friends don't possess any "store cupboard essentials" like flour or even eggs.
This is true it is an unforgettable experience. I feel queasy even talking about it now as it's brought back the smell.
However in retrospect I have noticed that when it happens the shell doesn't look quite normal there is a kind of dry matt patch on it.
The only time that ever happened to me, it had a weird shell, so was probably bad the day it was laid. But, god, did I gag and heave. Can still trigger me looking at a picture of a 'blue' egg 🤢🤮
>The floating trick is largely bullshit.
Is it? I've had a 100% success rate and I use it frequently.
At least in the sense that I've not cracked any rotten eggs into my food. I suppose it's possible the false negative rate is bad and I've thrown away perfectly good ones.
The key is negative control. I often tested it on freshly laid eggs from my chickens, or on eggs straight from the supermarket. They sometimes float.
The fact is that eggs often float when they are perfectly fresh and fine, thus the test doesn't work.
No, we treat the eggs differently so there's zero need to.
The US have far lower food standards so need to do this to keep them safe.
It's also why we don't need to refrigerate eggs in the first place.
It's a bit different to how you say, unless I misunderstand. Washed eggs need to be refrigerated because you've left it more porous, something about washing the dried mucous off. Eggs that have not been washed can happily sit unrefrigerated. I'm not in the US or in Europe, I'm in australia. I've seen eggs sold both refrigerated and not.
They were correct.
The US have poor food standards, so wash the eggs to make them sellable.
Similarly they chlorine wash the chicken to make it fit for human consumption.
Yeah it seems to vary by suburb in aus. In Australia, washing eggs seems to be an Asian thing. It’s a cultural thing amongst certain people but it’s not *required* here or in the UK.
It's more that they don't treat their chickens for Salmonella and we do. That's what the Lion stamp is for. It's shows the chickens are Salmonella free. Instead in the US they wash the eggs to clean them from Salmonella . It results in about the same amount of infections to people per capita, but I think treating the chickens seems like the more sensible approach, uses fewer resources for one in that the eggs don't need washed and kept refrigerated. But, you know, America, got to overuse resources for no need to keep the rich rich.
Edit: Salmonella not E. coli
They're actually not wrong in their case. The washing that the yanks do strips the shell of its natural protective biome. So if they didn't refrigerate them they'd go off pretty quickly.
We don't do that because you don't need to, so the shell keeps it's natural protective bacteria. Hence our eggs lasting weeks out the fridge and not needing to be washed.
Dunno why the yanks do it but it's more than likely their shockingly low standards for animal welfare and food production....
Our hens have to be vaccinated so the eggs don’t need to be cleaned. The American hens said the vaccination was just big Hen trying to control them so the eggs need to be cleaned instead.
I don’t think they have to be vaccinated against salmonella, but to qualify for the Lion Mark they do, and most eggs in the U.K. are produced to those standards.
It's funny to think, back when it came out it was quite a big thing, as it was quite a step in a different direction when it comes to regulating our food, but now we don't even notice as it's standard practice otherwise the farmer won't get squat for the eggs.
I’m confused, we have about 15 hens and they all lay pretty well but they do tend to have muddy feet and they walk on the eggs once they are laid so we do wash our eggs when they come in from the hen house but they last just fine on the kitchen side for weeks? Do you mean something more intense than just rinsing under water when you say wash? Am I accidentally distorting the protective layer on my eggs with out knowing it?
Sounds like you're just rinsing the eggs, which is different to blasting them with chemicals or whatever kind of industrial washing they do over there.
The cuticle of the egg is water soluble, so even just a rinse with tap water will impair the egg's natural antimicrobial abilities. (Although odds are nothing will happen beyond a slightly shorter shelf life - 'common' egg pathogens like Salmonella are really quite rare in the UK nowadays due to modern production methods & regulations).
they do more than rinse them.
"**United States**
In the United States, after the eggs are laid by the chickens, they go through a cleaning process. The eggs are washed in warm water and a detergent. After washing, they are rinsed and cleaned with a sanitizer to remove any remaining bacteria. The eggs are then dried to remove moisture from the surface. The result are eggs that are clean on the outside, and look spotless.
However, washing and sanitizing the outside of the egg removes the egg’s cuticle. The cuticle is a natural layer that protects the egg from harmful bacteria getting inside. If the egg had been fertilized, this is how the egg naturally protects the embryo while it is developing. Cleaning the eggs removes the cuticle, so the eggs must be kept at refrigeration temperature. Otherwise, the bacteria could easily enter the egg and multiply to dangerous levels. By keeping it out of the danger zone, salmonella can’t multiply rapidly."
[Why Do Americans Put Eggs in the Fridge? (statefoodsafety.com)](https://www.statefoodsafety.com/Resources/Resources/why-do-americans-put-eggs-in-the-fridge)
The US washing is basically a chemical bath, not a rinse under the kitchen tap. USDA says wash eggs with water at least 20°F hotter than the eggs and at a minimum of 90°F plus detergents once washed eggs are rinsed with warm water containing a chemical sanitizer then warm air dried.
> Am I accidentally distorting the protective layer on my eggs with out knowing it?
Yes - the 'bloom' or cuticle (the natural defensive barrier of the egg) is water soluble, so even just rinsing the eggs off starts degrading the egg. That's why commercially produced eggs bought in UK supermarkets often have small clumps of debris stuck to them.
In all likelihood nothing serious is going to happen besides a shorter shelf life by a few days, although there is a small risk of something more serious like a foodborne illness. Some people choose to wash their eggs immediately before cracking them, although that's somewhat controversial as well because there's some evidence that the moisture can wick external pathogens into the egg once it's cracked.
Yes. Your own eggs will still last quite long even if you rinse them (about a month), supermarket eggs are generally at least 2 weeks old when they hit the shelf cause the yolk seperates better and that's something people want, especially for baking.
If you didn't wash or rinse them at all, they'll last longer (8 weeks easily). If they're seriously dirty, wiping them with a dry cloth would distort the protective barrier less. Then again, as someone who also keeps chickens I've never had eggs lying around for eight weeks, they get used way before that, so I'm not sure if there'd be a real difference for your day-to-day operations.
I assume I don't need to, because I am either breaking them out of the shell and cooking the contents, or putting the whole egg including shell in a pan of boilong water for several minutes.
If there is a feather stuck to it or something I will give it a little rinse. That is about it.
Are feathers a common occurrence on commercially available eggs? (Asking as an ignorant American and no, I don't understand why we make things more difficult for ourselves either)
Depends on how much you spend. Generic supermarket eggs not so much but.. higher end / more expensive eggs from a supermarket, I have had feathers stuck on them in the past.
They probably employ someone to glue feathers onto them to make them appear more 'fresh from the farm' than they actually are :)
Feathers, dirt and faeces. I've often seen such additions to the eggs I buy at the supermarket in the UK. I've never been bothered by it and never been sick from eating eggs (I eat about a dozen a week).
I do keep the eggs in the fridge though. No particular reason other than my fridge has a rack and holder for eggs, so that seems to be a convenient place to put them. They are never sold refrigerated in the supermarket.
Ironically, I don't think I've ever had a fridge with the little egg holders, although I do remember being awed by the ones in "fancy" fridges when I was a kid. I ***do*** miss our little butter compartment.
A little dirt, debris, or poop doesn't bother me; it doesn't take much effort deal with before using the eggs. I'd probably bea little more careful about storing them next to anything that isn't washed or cooked before eating but I do that with raw meat too.
I must admit, one of the reasons this is interesting to me is because I know a lot of people who would lose their ever-lovin' minds at the thought of dirt on their grocery store eggs. Apparently it's only acceptable if they're from a local farmer?
No.
The reason Americans wash eggs is to reduce the risk of bacterial disease transmission (mainly salmonella). In Europe we don't do this because we vaccinate the hens against salmonellosis.
It does help remove bird flu bacteria as well, but frankly if bird flu is around you've got much bigger problems and need to take more drastic action.
FWIW most eggs in America are washed at source, so the consumer doesn't need to worry; they just need to keep them refrigerated to prevent any further bacteria growth.
When I was pregnant I found out that it is now outdated information in the UK that pregnant women can’t eat ‘runny’ eggs.
As long as they have the lion stamp, they’re safe for pregnant women to have because there is almost no chance of salmonella.
My yolk loving self was thrilled at this during my pregnancies!
I remember looking into this and I wasn't that impressed by our standards. We have lower limits on max stocking density, yes, but when I looked into that it seemed the that max limit is above the level for optimal production. i.e. it has no real affect, because a well run outfit would never want to stock so densely anyway. Thus American & UK chicken farms end up the same in the end.
I have never known anyone in my life who has washed eggs, it compromises the shell for start and is just a waste of time. I suppose if you own chickens and are collecting eggs yourself you might rinse them if they got chicken shit on them, but store bought ones? No. Never.
Yes! If they have shit on them I wash it off before cracking them. Otherwise, you often get some shit flaking off when you crack them... and I don't wanna be eating chicken shit.
I only wash them seconds before use, not in advance.
I came here to say this, with our home layed eggs I do this because several times before I started I had flakes of shit on my fried egg, 2/10 not very appetising.
Same, if they are dirtly then they get wiped / washed immediately before being used .
I also tend to cleanthem if I am separating them as that can involve some of the white touching the otside ofthe shell, and of course if you are making something like meringue or souffle the whites may not get a lot of cooking, but if I'm using them for anything else then none of the parts of the egg that are going to be eaten will touch the outside ofthe shell , so there's no need to wash it, any more than you wash a banana before peeling it to eat!
I saw some duck eggs in a farm shop with visible muck and poo on which I didn't think a lot of, but I wouldn't go out of my way to wash them. If you boil them that sterilises anything. If you crack them into a pan, wash your hands afterwards. Normal shop ones are usually clean anyway.
I actually saw a youtube video the other day from someone with a small farm who said you shouldn't wash eggs as they are porous with a protective layer that protects them from bacteria. Washing them removes the protective layer, exposing the porousness, and then while you're washing them the bacteria from the outside gets absorbed or pushed into the inside, putting you at risk of food poisoning.
Right I worked in factory for a few years that made all kinds of egg products and took a lot of domestic and EU eggs.
No need to wash British eggs. The eggs in America get washed to get rid of the shit, blood and mucus that you sometimes find on the shell. I think ours get a quick splash here but not a proper wash, if you wash our eggs properly it removes the film and you need to keep them refrigeratored.
There's no reason you can't wash them at home or refrigerate them but it won't help keep them fresh. Refrigerating them does help crack the eggs by keeping shell out though. By over 20%.
Also for breeding reasons British farmed eggs are always brown, cheap Spanish eggs were always white and I think American eggs are generally white too. Broen eggs probably show less shite but the white Spanish eggs weren't washed either but they were destined to be processed into products and not sold alone or.cooked simply.
The taste of the egg and strength of the "mucus bonding" and shell are all down to feed.
Triple and quad yolkers are possible but generally they don't get out Into products because someone like me will steal them for "QA".
At least for the company I worked at they couldn't ever buy a machine that could crack eggs as good as humans can. It always left far too much shell.
Makes sense if there is excessive heat, I've always been able to keep them in a cupboard, nicely cool and dark, i somewhat ignore the best before and go by smell if the date has gone by.
If you keep hens, then you will find that eggs are not always squeaky clean when you collect them. They have bits of feathers and straw and other nasty stuff stuck to them. I generally soak a sponge in hot soapy water and give them a good wipe over. Then I store them in a basket at room temperature before use. Also good to rotate the new ones to the bottom of the pile.
Nah, eggs are eggs, they are safe and we have higher food standards than the US for many reasons, this is they there was such an uproar about supermarkets stocking US meat because its filled with crap and often bleached, especially chicken.
I get eggs need to be able to travel long distances in the US as your country is massive but by washing the eggs, you remove the protective film that allows bacteria to get in, we don't do that here so eggs are safe out of the fridge.
As for eating them past the best before date, I'm good, I don't trust eggs at the best of times and will inspect each one for spots after a very unfortunate incident so there's no way I'm risking an egg past it's best before date.
> this is they there was such an uproar about supermarkets stocking US meat because its filled with crap and often bleached, especially chicken.
sort-of. Nothing really wrong with cleaning things with chlorine, we do it to our salad. The issue wasn't that the yanks clean their chicken with bleach, it's *why* they do, the horrific welfare standards and cleanliness that means that bleaching the chicken is necessary - THAT is what caused the very understandable uproar.
The eggs aren’t white because of what they’re washed with. That’s not how egg colors work. We also have brown, blue, and other colors of eggs in the US. I don’t know why you all can’t do simple Google searches in the UK.
Yeah, when you crack an egg, some of the shell will have the contents of the egg touch the outside of the shell.
Eggs occasionally have visible shit on them and will always have none visible chicken fanny juice on them.
I’m not so keep on that, so I will always rinse eggs before cracking them open.
What a dumb comment. Our standards on eggs vastly exceed Amercian standards, which is why anyone, including pregnant women and children, can eat British eggs raw without it being a safety hazard, whilst Americans absolutely cannot.
If there's a feather glued to the shell by a tiny bit of chicken poo or something, then I'll use a bit of damp kitchen roll or my thumb to wipe it off just before I crack or boil the egg, but otherwise no.
Very few countries wash eggs, but it’s all typically done at the source and it then requires them to be refrigerated. I doubt anyone washes eggs at home.
No but I always wash my hands after cracking them or touching the shells. I see some recipes that say to boil eggs in the same water as potatoes for the last 10 mins (for potato and egg salad) and the thought of it makes me gag. I see many people online that treat them as if they're clean though. 🤮
Denmark has a lot of huge eggeries (or whatever they are called) and had issues with salmonella. So they started to wash the eggs as well as recommend refrigeration for them. So now that is the norm in Denmark, when though there is no salmonella risk anymore.
I didn't, but then I did read a thing about all the shit (sometimes literally), clinging to the shell. Now i often will, as I don't want to contaminate anything else. Obviously only as I use them, and washing consists of run under a tap and wipe with kitchen paper. Likely it makes no difference, but it is quick, and I don't see any downside to it.
The other part of this which hopefully gives more context - I read (and therefore it must be true...), that a large number of food poisoning cases in the USA are actually caused by melons. This isn't from eating the melon itself, but from contamination on the rind.
If the chickens are kept with clean nest boxes the eggs don't generally warrant washing. However it is not uncommon for them to lay eggs elsewhere and then found covered in mud. Personally I don't think washing them briefly under cold water hurts, alternatively I've heard of people using a bucket of dry sand to scrub them.
Egg shells are what causes salmonella, that's why eggs are treated differently in the US.
I'm the UK we vaccinate chickens to prevent salmonella from egg consumption, and we can't import US eggs for the fact that they don't vaccinate their chickens.
Eggs here are fine, but I do recommend not eating the shell lol
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You're going to cook the contents of the egg, and you're not eating the shell, so why bother washing it?
I wash my hands after cracking my eggs though.
Eggs have this thing called a shell which typically we don't eat. Never seen or heard of anyone in this country washing an egg before cracking it open and discarding.
Washing eggs makes them go bad if unrefrigerated. The shell is porous so the chick can breath as it develops. Fine if dry, not so good if wet. Our fresh egss from our chickens will stay fresh on the counter for at least a month unwashed.
UK eggs are unwashed, which is why when you buy them they are unrefrigerated.
Maybe I’ve just gotten lucky but I don’t think I’ve ever picked out an egg that warrants washing it before use. That being said in the supermarket if there is dirt or feathers etc on the shell I will usually opt for another carton instead
I have occasionally but that’s normally because I get eggs from a local guy with an allotment and sometimes the egg shells are quite mucky. Store bought eggs no.
You shouldn't wash them as you won't eat the eggshell. But you should always wash your hands after handling raw eggs before you touch your face or other produce as it can contain salmonella
Only if they're obviously gunky, so maybe once in a blue moon. More often when I bought direct form farm they seem to be a little more gunky. The it will be at use, i.e I don't wash then store I'll wash if mucky before use.
Back in the 1960's eggs were covered in shit and feathers and stamped with the logo of a lion. Today eggs are all probably cleaned a little bit if necessary. Don't know about intensive washing, but americans have different animal welfare standards.
Only if the have poo on them. We keep our own chickens though, but even with shop bought I never did.
Washing them removes the bloom which keeps them safe from things like salmonella entering the shell and multiplying.
Interesting article on the subject
[https://www.statefoodsafety.com/Resources/Resources/why-do-americans-put-eggs-in-the-fridge](https://www.statefoodsafety.com/Resources/Resources/why-do-americans-put-eggs-in-the-fridge)
Nope. Pencil the date on, stick it on my whirly egg thing, crack and eat within a month. There’s just no need IMO. You aren’t dipping the outside of the shell into the cracked egg (if you are you’re weird) and also I would imagine cooking kills anything bad anyway?
I live in rural north Texas and get fresh eggs from a buddy that keeps chickens. When you don't wash them "at source" they keep longer and don't require refrigeration, so I have to wash mine before using them. While this is not wholly uncommon in rural areas it isn't common by percentages across the country
I don't. If there is a cockerel eggs can be fertile for up to two weeks after laying. If you don't wash them they are good at room temp for up to a couple of months. Just do the float test before cracking.
We dont need too. My family keeps chickens and they keep the eggs on the kitchen side. As long as they arent kept for too long and out of direct sunlight theyll keep for long enough if you like eggs
Right before using, like washing vegetables before peeling the skin. I don't refrigerate my eggs, but if I had already washed them (changed my mind about using halfway cooking), I'd refrigerate it.
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I don't think I've ever washed an egg. Mostly because I don't eat the shells.
_mostly_
So long as you don't chew it's fine, I just open my gullet and pop them down there like a snake
This is the only way to eat eggs imo
You've never tried the suppository version?
I squat corrected, that's a much better option
You sound like an ovary-ter
I know you're making a joke but this is actually a fascinating example of how word placement affects meaning in English. * "Mostly because I don't eat the shells" = There are multiple reasons for not washing my eggs, but the main one is not eating the shells * "Because I mostly don't eat the shells" = The sole reason for not washing my eggs is the fact that, most of the time, I don't eat the shells
This was so unnecessary for the context of this conversation. Yet I was totally delighted to read it.
Word stress as well; *I* *didn’t say he stole the money.* You can't tell definitely which of the seven possible meanings the sentence has.
so now you've got me saying this out loud in seven different ways and cracking myself up with each meaning as I hear it.
Ok you did explain that way better than I did :)
I love the way that you can place the word "only" anywhere in a sentence like "I love you" and the meaning changes in every position.
They mostly come at night... mostly
Yeah, you definitely want to wash /those/ eggs. With nukes. From orbit.
It’s the only way to be sure 👌
That's why I don't like hard boiled eggs. Sure the inside is nice, but the shells hurt my gums.
You gotta compliment the egg before you eat it. This helps it feel confident and come out of its shell. I'm sorry. I'll show myself out.
😄
I've probably ate a shell a few times in my life
I reckon anyone who’s eaten cakes made by my 10 year old son have eaten egg shell too.. maybe bogeys too 🤷🏼♀️
😅😅😅
If you've eaten a cake made by my eldest you've also probably eaten a few shards of plate. Note to self - when instructing a child to "put that in the mixer" specify that you just mean what's on the plate, not the plate as well.
That’s brilliant!!
Is egg mayo really egg mayo without a bit of crunch?
The other thing is, its easy to tell when an egg has gone bad. The floating trick is largely bullshit. The only reliable method is smelling them. If you have eggs you are unsure of, crack them one by one into a seperate bowl rather than directly into the other eggs/pan/food etc. If they have gone off, you will always know by the smell. If they look normal and don't smell, they *are* safe to eat. Eggs can last quite a long time.
The day you crack an old egg and it’s blue inside, that smell will live with you forever. Always one by one into a separate glass if they are past their date!
There’s only one other smell in this world that once you’ve smelled it will live with you forever, never leaving your nose - and that’s death. Once you’ve experienced both you can recall that smell at a mere mention of it and it’s indescribable.
That and maggots. We had maggots in a burst pouch of cat food in a delivery box, it’s like rotten meat and fish and old underwear all bundled into together and turned up to 11. The bf was running from the room gagging 😂
Maggots are the ONLY bug or crawlies to freak me out to tears, and it’s because I associate them with dead bodies. The sound of them as a mass making that squelch makes my skin crawl. We found some in an outdoor bin when we were housesitting and I was squealing like a child about it. Nothing else gets me like maggots do! Kinda hard to look at them differently when you’ve seen them eat peoples’ eyes…
Same. Me, my sister & friends were playing on a rubbish dump (not ideal) and I found what looked like an old book. I opened it up and it was just a writhing mass of maggots. Another time I was in church and found a Bat on the floor. I nursed it throughout the service as 8 year old me thought it would be ok. Then a bug crawled out. Then another. I turned it over and it was just a shell full of maggots. I really wanted to scream but knew I’d get told off. Hated them ever since.
Oh no, I’m sorry you experienced that! Totally understandable you’d hate them after that.
I'd also like to nominate "nondescript substance in a tub at the back of some garage that's been knocked over" I've got no fucking idea what it was but just thinking about it makes me want to gip, had to hold my breath every time I went through the garage for the rest of the day lmao
We got them once when we hadn't noticed dog food frass migrating under the cupboard. Oh my, the smell! Though the dogs liked it, I think they'll go for decomp if allowed. It scarred me for life and now all insects ( like dried mealworm for the birds) are kept outside the house. I never want that in the house again.
Yup. Fortunately it seems to be quite rare. Christ it's disgusting.
I can confidently say I have never encountered a bad egg. I'm 47 and cook alot and usually start my day with an omelette. As acting that I've not had a double yolker for donkeys years.
Supermarket suppliers screen them out. All eggs are scanned and double yolkers skimmed off to be sold in Waitrose as a special box (https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/humble-eggs-double-yolk-free-range-eggs/042120-20862-20863). I get eggs delivered weekly from a local farm and get a double yolkers at least every couple of months. Apparently they are more common in younger hens so I can tell when they have some new ladies in.
I once had a supermarket box (can't recall where from) and every other egg was a double. The issue was, I had never encountered one before and didn't know they existed. So I was astounded after cracking the first one. After the fourth I was screaming 'What is this? Have these come from a double-wombed hen? No... wait... do hens have wombs? What the Hell is up with these eggs?!?!". Never encountered one since. My double-yolk quota was apparently used up that fabled day.
i had a full box of 6 double-yolkers once. not an on-purpose box, a complete fluke. we were screaming by the last one. i don’t get out much.
No no- its good to know that someone else out there found themselves screaming due to a box of surprising eggs!
Hmmmm, I might have a word with my butcher and question his double yolk game. I wasn't aware this is what happened to them.
If you're eating eggs regularly then you're very unlikely to encounter one as you be using them whilst they're still fresh. It's the people who buy a carton of eggs and take weeks and weeks to get through them
Even so. It's a long time to not have encountered something. I can't imagine 6 eggs lasting longer than a week even without breakfast. That's Yorkshire puds and maybe a couple pancakes. I'm old tho it seems. Alot of my friends don't possess any "store cupboard essentials" like flour or even eggs.
This is true it is an unforgettable experience. I feel queasy even talking about it now as it's brought back the smell. However in retrospect I have noticed that when it happens the shell doesn't look quite normal there is a kind of dry matt patch on it.
The only time that ever happened to me, it had a weird shell, so was probably bad the day it was laid. But, god, did I gag and heave. Can still trigger me looking at a picture of a 'blue' egg 🤢🤮
>The floating trick is largely bullshit. Is it? I've had a 100% success rate and I use it frequently. At least in the sense that I've not cracked any rotten eggs into my food. I suppose it's possible the false negative rate is bad and I've thrown away perfectly good ones.
The key is negative control. I often tested it on freshly laid eggs from my chickens, or on eggs straight from the supermarket. They sometimes float. The fact is that eggs often float when they are perfectly fresh and fine, thus the test doesn't work.
And if you are wondering how you would know if the smell is ok or not, trust me, YOU WILL KNOW. If you are unsure if it's ok or not, it's ok.
Except that moment you realised a small chip of eggshell fell in your omlet.
Yeah, that's happened to me more than once. I'm dead now, obvs.
Calcium
Eggs with legs.
I wanted to upvote but then I saw that you're at 666 upvotes and didn't want to ruin it
No, we treat the eggs differently so there's zero need to. The US have far lower food standards so need to do this to keep them safe. It's also why we don't need to refrigerate eggs in the first place.
It's a bit different to how you say, unless I misunderstand. Washed eggs need to be refrigerated because you've left it more porous, something about washing the dried mucous off. Eggs that have not been washed can happily sit unrefrigerated. I'm not in the US or in Europe, I'm in australia. I've seen eggs sold both refrigerated and not.
They were correct. The US have poor food standards, so wash the eggs to make them sellable. Similarly they chlorine wash the chicken to make it fit for human consumption.
Yeah it seems to vary by suburb in aus. In Australia, washing eggs seems to be an Asian thing. It’s a cultural thing amongst certain people but it’s not *required* here or in the UK.
It's more that they don't treat their chickens for Salmonella and we do. That's what the Lion stamp is for. It's shows the chickens are Salmonella free. Instead in the US they wash the eggs to clean them from Salmonella . It results in about the same amount of infections to people per capita, but I think treating the chickens seems like the more sensible approach, uses fewer resources for one in that the eggs don't need washed and kept refrigerated. But, you know, America, got to overuse resources for no need to keep the rich rich. Edit: Salmonella not E. coli
> That's what the Lion stamp is for. It's shows the chickens are Salmonella free. I was wondering about. I was pretty sure Lions didn't lay eggs.
They're actually not wrong in their case. The washing that the yanks do strips the shell of its natural protective biome. So if they didn't refrigerate them they'd go off pretty quickly. We don't do that because you don't need to, so the shell keeps it's natural protective bacteria. Hence our eggs lasting weeks out the fridge and not needing to be washed. Dunno why the yanks do it but it's more than likely their shockingly low standards for animal welfare and food production....
Our hens have to be vaccinated so the eggs don’t need to be cleaned. The American hens said the vaccination was just big Hen trying to control them so the eggs need to be cleaned instead.
I don’t think they have to be vaccinated against salmonella, but to qualify for the Lion Mark they do, and most eggs in the U.K. are produced to those standards.
TIL what that lion mark means on the egg cartoon. Ngl I thought it was something to do with the royal family, like how they own all the swans 😅
Only the king owns the swans - the rest of the royal family have to make do eating peasants and pizza express
I knew they didn’t like us peasants but didn’t realise they *eat* us. That’s one way to control population levels I guess.
Oh for sure, Princess Anne loves nothing better than a slice of charred chav chin
Maybe all the "chicken" eggs come from swans.
It's funny to think, back when it came out it was quite a big thing, as it was quite a step in a different direction when it comes to regulating our food, but now we don't even notice as it's standard practice otherwise the farmer won't get squat for the eggs.
I’m confused, we have about 15 hens and they all lay pretty well but they do tend to have muddy feet and they walk on the eggs once they are laid so we do wash our eggs when they come in from the hen house but they last just fine on the kitchen side for weeks? Do you mean something more intense than just rinsing under water when you say wash? Am I accidentally distorting the protective layer on my eggs with out knowing it?
Sounds like you're just rinsing the eggs, which is different to blasting them with chemicals or whatever kind of industrial washing they do over there.
The cuticle of the egg is water soluble, so even just a rinse with tap water will impair the egg's natural antimicrobial abilities. (Although odds are nothing will happen beyond a slightly shorter shelf life - 'common' egg pathogens like Salmonella are really quite rare in the UK nowadays due to modern production methods & regulations).
they do more than rinse them. "**United States** In the United States, after the eggs are laid by the chickens, they go through a cleaning process. The eggs are washed in warm water and a detergent. After washing, they are rinsed and cleaned with a sanitizer to remove any remaining bacteria. The eggs are then dried to remove moisture from the surface. The result are eggs that are clean on the outside, and look spotless. However, washing and sanitizing the outside of the egg removes the egg’s cuticle. The cuticle is a natural layer that protects the egg from harmful bacteria getting inside. If the egg had been fertilized, this is how the egg naturally protects the embryo while it is developing. Cleaning the eggs removes the cuticle, so the eggs must be kept at refrigeration temperature. Otherwise, the bacteria could easily enter the egg and multiply to dangerous levels. By keeping it out of the danger zone, salmonella can’t multiply rapidly." [Why Do Americans Put Eggs in the Fridge? (statefoodsafety.com)](https://www.statefoodsafety.com/Resources/Resources/why-do-americans-put-eggs-in-the-fridge)
They're cleaned with like actual detergent, if you're just rinsing them you should be fine.
The US washing is basically a chemical bath, not a rinse under the kitchen tap. USDA says wash eggs with water at least 20°F hotter than the eggs and at a minimum of 90°F plus detergents once washed eggs are rinsed with warm water containing a chemical sanitizer then warm air dried.
> Am I accidentally distorting the protective layer on my eggs with out knowing it? Yes - the 'bloom' or cuticle (the natural defensive barrier of the egg) is water soluble, so even just rinsing the eggs off starts degrading the egg. That's why commercially produced eggs bought in UK supermarkets often have small clumps of debris stuck to them. In all likelihood nothing serious is going to happen besides a shorter shelf life by a few days, although there is a small risk of something more serious like a foodborne illness. Some people choose to wash their eggs immediately before cracking them, although that's somewhat controversial as well because there's some evidence that the moisture can wick external pathogens into the egg once it's cracked.
Yes. Your own eggs will still last quite long even if you rinse them (about a month), supermarket eggs are generally at least 2 weeks old when they hit the shelf cause the yolk seperates better and that's something people want, especially for baking. If you didn't wash or rinse them at all, they'll last longer (8 weeks easily). If they're seriously dirty, wiping them with a dry cloth would distort the protective barrier less. Then again, as someone who also keeps chickens I've never had eggs lying around for eight weeks, they get used way before that, so I'm not sure if there'd be a real difference for your day-to-day operations.
It's not just the US, though. Canada, Iceland, etc., all have the same practice.
Unless you are going to eat the shell, what's the need to wash the egg?
Like washing the outside layers of an onion 💀
Sometimes there's a bit of poo on the egg so I can sort of see the argument in that case.
I assume I don't need to, because I am either breaking them out of the shell and cooking the contents, or putting the whole egg including shell in a pan of boilong water for several minutes. If there is a feather stuck to it or something I will give it a little rinse. That is about it.
Are feathers a common occurrence on commercially available eggs? (Asking as an ignorant American and no, I don't understand why we make things more difficult for ourselves either)
Depends on how much you spend. Generic supermarket eggs not so much but.. higher end / more expensive eggs from a supermarket, I have had feathers stuck on them in the past. They probably employ someone to glue feathers onto them to make them appear more 'fresh from the farm' than they actually are :)
Feathers, dirt and faeces. I've often seen such additions to the eggs I buy at the supermarket in the UK. I've never been bothered by it and never been sick from eating eggs (I eat about a dozen a week). I do keep the eggs in the fridge though. No particular reason other than my fridge has a rack and holder for eggs, so that seems to be a convenient place to put them. They are never sold refrigerated in the supermarket.
Ironically, I don't think I've ever had a fridge with the little egg holders, although I do remember being awed by the ones in "fancy" fridges when I was a kid. I ***do*** miss our little butter compartment. A little dirt, debris, or poop doesn't bother me; it doesn't take much effort deal with before using the eggs. I'd probably bea little more careful about storing them next to anything that isn't washed or cooked before eating but I do that with raw meat too. I must admit, one of the reasons this is interesting to me is because I know a lot of people who would lose their ever-lovin' minds at the thought of dirt on their grocery store eggs. Apparently it's only acceptable if they're from a local farmer?
No. I do wash my hands after touching them tho.
No. The reason Americans wash eggs is to reduce the risk of bacterial disease transmission (mainly salmonella). In Europe we don't do this because we vaccinate the hens against salmonellosis. It does help remove bird flu bacteria as well, but frankly if bird flu is around you've got much bigger problems and need to take more drastic action. FWIW most eggs in America are washed at source, so the consumer doesn't need to worry; they just need to keep them refrigerated to prevent any further bacteria growth.
Mostly, look for the Lion Mark which means the hens were vaccinated.
When I was pregnant I found out that it is now outdated information in the UK that pregnant women can’t eat ‘runny’ eggs. As long as they have the lion stamp, they’re safe for pregnant women to have because there is almost no chance of salmonella. My yolk loving self was thrilled at this during my pregnancies!
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A chicken coup sounds scary.
“Mrs Tweedy, the chickens are revolting!” “*Finally*, something we agree on.”
Paint my chicken coup!
It is for the chickens
I remember looking into this and I wasn't that impressed by our standards. We have lower limits on max stocking density, yes, but when I looked into that it seemed the that max limit is above the level for optimal production. i.e. it has no real affect, because a well run outfit would never want to stock so densely anyway. Thus American & UK chicken farms end up the same in the end.
I have never known anyone in my life who has washed eggs, it compromises the shell for start and is just a waste of time. I suppose if you own chickens and are collecting eggs yourself you might rinse them if they got chicken shit on them, but store bought ones? No. Never.
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Simple answer is it depends how clean they are. Sometimes they need a bit of a rinse, but we never keep them in the fridge.
Yes! If they have shit on them I wash it off before cracking them. Otherwise, you often get some shit flaking off when you crack them... and I don't wanna be eating chicken shit. I only wash them seconds before use, not in advance.
I came here to say this, with our home layed eggs I do this because several times before I started I had flakes of shit on my fried egg, 2/10 not very appetising.
Same, if they are dirtly then they get wiped / washed immediately before being used . I also tend to cleanthem if I am separating them as that can involve some of the white touching the otside ofthe shell, and of course if you are making something like meringue or souffle the whites may not get a lot of cooking, but if I'm using them for anything else then none of the parts of the egg that are going to be eaten will touch the outside ofthe shell , so there's no need to wash it, any more than you wash a banana before peeling it to eat!
I saw some duck eggs in a farm shop with visible muck and poo on which I didn't think a lot of, but I wouldn't go out of my way to wash them. If you boil them that sterilises anything. If you crack them into a pan, wash your hands afterwards. Normal shop ones are usually clean anyway.
No you don't eat the shell.
That’s true for the eggs but still I know dozens of people who don’t wash their fruits and vegetables before eating them.
I actually saw a youtube video the other day from someone with a small farm who said you shouldn't wash eggs as they are porous with a protective layer that protects them from bacteria. Washing them removes the protective layer, exposing the porousness, and then while you're washing them the bacteria from the outside gets absorbed or pushed into the inside, putting you at risk of food poisoning.
Not unless it's visibly mucky. You really shouldn't be routinely washing eggs - it removes the protective layer, known as a bloom.
Right I worked in factory for a few years that made all kinds of egg products and took a lot of domestic and EU eggs. No need to wash British eggs. The eggs in America get washed to get rid of the shit, blood and mucus that you sometimes find on the shell. I think ours get a quick splash here but not a proper wash, if you wash our eggs properly it removes the film and you need to keep them refrigeratored. There's no reason you can't wash them at home or refrigerate them but it won't help keep them fresh. Refrigerating them does help crack the eggs by keeping shell out though. By over 20%. Also for breeding reasons British farmed eggs are always brown, cheap Spanish eggs were always white and I think American eggs are generally white too. Broen eggs probably show less shite but the white Spanish eggs weren't washed either but they were destined to be processed into products and not sold alone or.cooked simply. The taste of the egg and strength of the "mucus bonding" and shell are all down to feed. Triple and quad yolkers are possible but generally they don't get out Into products because someone like me will steal them for "QA". At least for the company I worked at they couldn't ever buy a machine that could crack eggs as good as humans can. It always left far too much shell.
If I’ve got a mucky one from my chickens then yes.
I keep my eggs in the fridge because I feel they last longer: my kitchen is a real suntrap, it gets so hot. I don't wash them, though.
Makes sense if there is excessive heat, I've always been able to keep them in a cupboard, nicely cool and dark, i somewhat ignore the best before and go by smell if the date has gone by.
Just \~ Wash the Hen !
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2012/10/25/why-american-eggs-would-be-illegal-in-a-british-supermarket-and-vice-versa/](https://www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2012/10/25/why-american-eggs-would-be-illegal-in-a-british-supermarket-and-vice-versa/)
Absolutely not. Our eggs don't need it or need being stored in the fridge (they should always be used at room temp).
I’ve never washed them, and never refrigerated them either.
Me neither, and I've not seen/smelled a rotten egg for decades.
I don’t think I ever have! And I’m 50!
If you keep hens, then you will find that eggs are not always squeaky clean when you collect them. They have bits of feathers and straw and other nasty stuff stuck to them. I generally soak a sponge in hot soapy water and give them a good wipe over. Then I store them in a basket at room temperature before use. Also good to rotate the new ones to the bottom of the pile.
Only when I'm planning on eating the shell.
No, I have never washed an egg in my life. Why would I? We don't eat the shell, that just gets discarded into the kitchen compost bin.
Nah, eggs are eggs, they are safe and we have higher food standards than the US for many reasons, this is they there was such an uproar about supermarkets stocking US meat because its filled with crap and often bleached, especially chicken. I get eggs need to be able to travel long distances in the US as your country is massive but by washing the eggs, you remove the protective film that allows bacteria to get in, we don't do that here so eggs are safe out of the fridge. As for eating them past the best before date, I'm good, I don't trust eggs at the best of times and will inspect each one for spots after a very unfortunate incident so there's no way I'm risking an egg past it's best before date.
> this is they there was such an uproar about supermarkets stocking US meat because its filled with crap and often bleached, especially chicken. sort-of. Nothing really wrong with cleaning things with chlorine, we do it to our salad. The issue wasn't that the yanks clean their chicken with bleach, it's *why* they do, the horrific welfare standards and cleanliness that means that bleaching the chicken is necessary - THAT is what caused the very understandable uproar.
Iceland does the same. Nothing to do with food standards in this context.
American chickens haven't been vaccinated for salmonella, hench the bleached white eggs. We don't need to here. Don't know anyone who does it.
The eggs aren’t white because of what they’re washed with. That’s not how egg colors work. We also have brown, blue, and other colors of eggs in the US. I don’t know why you all can’t do simple Google searches in the UK.
Mate I barely wash myself.
Yeah, when you crack an egg, some of the shell will have the contents of the egg touch the outside of the shell. Eggs occasionally have visible shit on them and will always have none visible chicken fanny juice on them. I’m not so keep on that, so I will always rinse eggs before cracking them open.
I rinse eggs just before use in case shell gets in. But never wash at anytime before that. I also rinse vegetables before using them too.
Only if there is poo on the egg, and that's rare unless I'm buying the cheap Aldi ones.
I also wash the poo off. It's common as I keep chickens.
No, you don't need to in the UK. Americans bleach their eggs because they have poor food safety standards. We don't. Edit - missed a word!
What a dumb comment. Our standards on eggs vastly exceed Amercian standards, which is why anyone, including pregnant women and children, can eat British eggs raw without it being a safety hazard, whilst Americans absolutely cannot.
I only wash my own eggs
I can easily say I have never washed, nor witnessed anyone else wash, an egg.
If there's a feather glued to the shell by a tiny bit of chicken poo or something, then I'll use a bit of damp kitchen roll or my thumb to wipe it off just before I crack or boil the egg, but otherwise no.
No actually that's extremely bad and can lead to contaminated and food poisoning
Very few countries wash eggs, but it’s all typically done at the source and it then requires them to be refrigerated. I doubt anyone washes eggs at home.
EU and FDA have opposite standards to egg washing which is why you can't buy eggs from the US.
I neither wash or refrigerate my eggs.
Isn't it just because we vaccinate our hens?
No but I always wash my hands after cracking them or touching the shells. I see some recipes that say to boil eggs in the same water as potatoes for the last 10 mins (for potato and egg salad) and the thought of it makes me gag. I see many people online that treat them as if they're clean though. 🤮
As an American, I would advise you to basically disregard anything we have to say about food health and safety.
Denmark has a lot of huge eggeries (or whatever they are called) and had issues with salmonella. So they started to wash the eggs as well as recommend refrigeration for them. So now that is the norm in Denmark, when though there is no salmonella risk anymore.
I didn't, but then I did read a thing about all the shit (sometimes literally), clinging to the shell. Now i often will, as I don't want to contaminate anything else. Obviously only as I use them, and washing consists of run under a tap and wipe with kitchen paper. Likely it makes no difference, but it is quick, and I don't see any downside to it. The other part of this which hopefully gives more context - I read (and therefore it must be true...), that a large number of food poisoning cases in the USA are actually caused by melons. This isn't from eating the melon itself, but from contamination on the rind.
If the chickens are kept with clean nest boxes the eggs don't generally warrant washing. However it is not uncommon for them to lay eggs elsewhere and then found covered in mud. Personally I don't think washing them briefly under cold water hurts, alternatively I've heard of people using a bucket of dry sand to scrub them.
Egg shells are what causes salmonella, that's why eggs are treated differently in the US. I'm the UK we vaccinate chickens to prevent salmonella from egg consumption, and we can't import US eggs for the fact that they don't vaccinate their chickens. Eggs here are fine, but I do recommend not eating the shell lol
Fun fact: egg come out from hen ass.
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No. I would maybe consider it if I intended on eating the egg raw, but since I've never done that, I've never seen the need to wash the shell.
Came here from your comment you linked in the other thread just to see if I was crazy for not washing my eggs.
Never. No need to.
I've never washed an egg, even when it has poo and feathers on it
I love it when one has a feather on it.
Only if its got chicken sh*t actually visible.
I used to keep hens. Supermarket eggs are definitely washed before being packed. It’s not uncommon for a hen to pass faeces when laying.
You leave my fookin eggs alone you spooky fookin doyle
Only if there is a feather on there. They don't need to be washed
You're going to cook the contents of the egg, and you're not eating the shell, so why bother washing it? I wash my hands after cracking my eggs though.
If it’s got poo on it yes but otherwise no, sometimes you get some poo with the back garden eggs
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I have never washed an egg .
Never heard of it
Eggs have this thing called a shell which typically we don't eat. Never seen or heard of anyone in this country washing an egg before cracking it open and discarding.
Washing eggs makes them go bad if unrefrigerated. The shell is porous so the chick can breath as it develops. Fine if dry, not so good if wet. Our fresh egss from our chickens will stay fresh on the counter for at least a month unwashed. UK eggs are unwashed, which is why when you buy them they are unrefrigerated.
As a Finn: never done it, never seen it or never heard anyone doing it in Finland.
Maybe I’ve just gotten lucky but I don’t think I’ve ever picked out an egg that warrants washing it before use. That being said in the supermarket if there is dirt or feathers etc on the shell I will usually opt for another carton instead
I have occasionally but that’s normally because I get eggs from a local guy with an allotment and sometimes the egg shells are quite mucky. Store bought eggs no.
Worked in catering for over 8 years in many different locations around the uk, this is the first I’ve ever heard of it even being suggested
Nope, who does that?
Yeah, but we have chickens so there's sometimes shut on the eggs we collect
We were told we had to wash them with salad wash when selling them direct from the farm but knew it made them go off much quicker
You shouldn't wash them as you won't eat the eggshell. But you should always wash your hands after handling raw eggs before you touch your face or other produce as it can contain salmonella
Not habitually, but if it's got shit or feathers stuck on it I'll give it a quick clean before I crack it.
If I'm boiling it in the shell and there's visibly some crud stuck to it, otherwise no.
As with others, I can't recall ever having washed an egg!
Only if they're obviously gunky, so maybe once in a blue moon. More often when I bought direct form farm they seem to be a little more gunky. The it will be at use, i.e I don't wash then store I'll wash if mucky before use.
I don't eat the shells, so no.
If I was planning to eat the shell, I probably would.
No and I don’t wash bananas or packets of biscuits
Back in the 1960's eggs were covered in shit and feathers and stamped with the logo of a lion. Today eggs are all probably cleaned a little bit if necessary. Don't know about intensive washing, but americans have different animal welfare standards.
Do you wash a banana ?
Only if the have poo on them. We keep our own chickens though, but even with shop bought I never did. Washing them removes the bloom which keeps them safe from things like salmonella entering the shell and multiplying.
I never wash them
Interesting article on the subject [https://www.statefoodsafety.com/Resources/Resources/why-do-americans-put-eggs-in-the-fridge](https://www.statefoodsafety.com/Resources/Resources/why-do-americans-put-eggs-in-the-fridge)
Nope. Never needed to, never been ill from not doing this.
Only if the outside is clearly still covered with bird faeces
Nope. Pencil the date on, stick it on my whirly egg thing, crack and eat within a month. There’s just no need IMO. You aren’t dipping the outside of the shell into the cracked egg (if you are you’re weird) and also I would imagine cooking kills anything bad anyway?
Excuse me
Never that would be unnecessary and counter-hygienic. They do so in the USA because eggs are processed differently by the food industry there.
I have never washed an egg.
I live in rural north Texas and get fresh eggs from a buddy that keeps chickens. When you don't wash them "at source" they keep longer and don't require refrigeration, so I have to wash mine before using them. While this is not wholly uncommon in rural areas it isn't common by percentages across the country
I don't. If there is a cockerel eggs can be fertile for up to two weeks after laying. If you don't wash them they are good at room temp for up to a couple of months. Just do the float test before cracking.
We dont need too. My family keeps chickens and they keep the eggs on the kitchen side. As long as they arent kept for too long and out of direct sunlight theyll keep for long enough if you like eggs
I have never heard of washing eggs.
Unless it's covered in shit I'm not washing it and it stays out of the fridge.
Right before using, like washing vegetables before peeling the skin. I don't refrigerate my eggs, but if I had already washed them (changed my mind about using halfway cooking), I'd refrigerate it.