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Comment by skenmy | Hacker News Reader

The fact that you say that unwashed eggs can be left out leaves it open for debate. It's the lack of a must that gives rise to it.

For context: I'm in the UK, and I store eggs in the fridge.

edit: clarification: What I do is not necessarily correct, just providing context and data.

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Eggs have a protective layer on them. This is handy because it stops bad stuff getting into the eggs and killing the embryo.

In the US the farming practices result in eggs which are dirty. So they need to be washed. This washing damaged the protective layer, which means bad stuff can now get into the egg.

In Europe the farming practices are stricter which results in eggs which are clean enough not to need washing. The protective layer remains intact and the eggs can be stored at room temperature.

You remain free to store your eggs in the fridge. I know some people who do this to ensure consistent boiling times - the fridge temperature is less variable than room temperature.

Just to clarify - I wasn't wanting to state that what I do is correct. Rather I wished to illustrate that there is some debate around it, regardless of right and wrong.

Your comments around farming practices are great! Thanks for sharing!

Apparently you should not do that

Without the cuticle, eggs must be refrigerated to combat bacterial infection from inside. In Europe, it's illegal to wash eggs and instead, farms vaccinate chickens against salmonella. With the cuticle intact, refrigeration could cause mildew growth and contamination

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/why-eur...

Genuinely interesting! I was brought up storing them in the fridge and have never (knowingly) had an issue.

I will do a little more reading - thanks for the link!

Last time I was reading about this I also saw that refrigerating eggs that still had the cuticle could draw the cuticle through the shell which would also pull in the bacteria and other stuff that had been trapped.

No idea if that part is true, I couldn't find a source either way and I live in the US so it doesn't impact me.

"which can cause mildew growth and bacterial contamination should the eggs sweat as they come back to room temps"

If you keep them in the fridge until cooking, that's an incredibly small window for anything to grow though.

It also seems to shorten shelf life. Whether it is the drier air inside the fridge I am not sure, but unwashed eggs left out last longer. Always far longer than the insanely short printed date which I think is 2 or 3 weeks. A good few months is nearer the mark.

You're braver than me I'm very squeamish about certain foods and would never trust them beyond their use by dates, meat, milk, butter and eggs being the main ones

I thought milk and butter are highly unlikely to cause any harm or distress that you wouldn't notice from spoiled taste.

Meat as well but you have to be accustomed to how raw meat is supposed to smell which may be more pungent than you think.

Trust your nose. The date isn't a guarantee. I have had food within the expiry date that seemed off, I ate anyway, and it made me sick.

Meat in the US is highly processed. It generally receives colorants, shaping, or processing depending upon the meat and where you buy it from. Deli meats for example are shaped loaves of meat for easier cutting and different flavorings. A butcher is generally the best bet for getting actual meat and they typically cut the meat the same day as you get it for maximum freshness.

Butter is best before. Honestly can't remember which date type eggs have - we've entirely ignored them for decades. Never yet encountered an off egg, but they do thicken texture a little if you use the months old box you find at the back of the cupboard. It was an experiment, k? :)

Use by we respect - but even then only ish. Mainly as there is a lot of slack built in that date to allow for people with a too warm fridge, or it sitting in their nice warm car for 2 hrs first.

Generally we just go the traditional route to gauge: Smell, texture, separating, colour change, etc. Milk that's turned is super easy to detect. Was even easier before homogenisation.

Use by date, at least in the US, is a completely arbitrary date assigned by the producer as to the date after which peak taste is no longer guaranteed. It has nothing to do with spoilage.

We have two days in France : best by which means nothing and use by which does not mean much either.

U.S. grocery store washed eggs also last far longer than the printed sell-by date, in the fridge, a good few months also. I have eaten em many times.

I dunno if one eggs storage method lasts longer than the other, but they both last an awful long time, apparently.

I have heard the water content/texture does change after a long time, making them unsuitable for baking applications where the composition matters. I'm not a baker, I dunno. They taste fine and are indistinguishable scrambled or fried.

You may pinpoint the major flaw in my feeling - they last so long the elapsed time wasn't precisely measured. :)

Let enough months pass and they seem to thicken up some - still edible, but definitely past their best. None of the box we misplaced at the back of the store cupboard were off.

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