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Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

nytimes.com

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Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#161

Post by Aloha »

nraynaud wrote: post #29
monochromatic wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not at all what I got from the article. I read it as saying basically that reasonable people can disagree about whether eggs should be washed and refrigerated, and there are good reasons for either position.

I would agree, I'm still puzzled tho, because vaccine works but is not used for economic reasons. So we Europeans, mostly don't vaccinate and don't refrigerate (let's forget the health care and say it's the cheapest), but in the US you're paying for an entire cold shipping infrastructure anyways, which doesn't strike me as "cheap".

The cold shipping infrastructure largely already exists, in this case its just one more SKU added to it.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#162

Post by aplomb »

PostOnce wrote: post #61
aplomb wrote: post #59

Raised chickens for some time. Noticed my eggs would "sweat" when I'd take them out of the refrigerator vs store bought which do nothing at all; after a time at room temperature they'd reabsorb. I'd imagine that's pretty dangerous if you're running a cesspool operation - pulling in liquid contaminated by whatever is on the shell.

Are you sure you're not describing condensation and evaporation, rather than sweating and absorption?

Would take much longer for condensation to evaporate at room temperature

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#163

Post by drakonka »

I live in Sweden and we've kept our eggs unrefrigerated in our home. However, we recently sponsored a chicken and now get to buy more ethically obtained (in my opinion) eggs from a small local farm in batches that might last a month or so. The farm owner recommended that we refrigerate the eggs, I suspect because we are not using them as quickly as you would otherwise go through a carton of eggs from the supermarket. I'm also not sure what period of time the eggs are collected over, so they could very well already be a week old by the time we receive them. So now we refrigerate to be safe.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#164

Post by ZainRiz »

lloydde wrote: post #134
RandomOpinion wrote: post #15

I think part of the article that's getting glossed over is: " A refrigerated egg, no matter the source, will be good for four or five weeks. Unrefrigerated eggs are best used within a week, though they may be fine for two. " So, one would want to refrigerate eggs (washed or unwashed) anyway if they're not all going to be used immediately.

When my youngest child was a baby and I was binge watching tv while comforting her, I found myself watching a doomsday preppers show. There I learned by oiling eggs they could be stored months. http://www.offthegridnews.com/off-grid-foods/preserving-eggs... looks to have confirmed the reality tv show: "[eggs] will, however, eventually develop an off-flavor, and this off-flavor is especially pronounced in eggs stored…

If you preserve the egg in lime, ash, and a few other ingredients for long enough, the egg turns into a "Century Egg" with an almost jello like look and consistency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg

Tastes kinda gross though (but I might be biased)

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#165

Post by paganel »

roryisok wrote: post #153
desdiv wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this covered in the article? >In Europe and Britain, the opposite is true. European Union regulations prohibit the washing of eggs. The idea is that preserving the protective cuticle is more important than washing the gunk off. UK eggs are unwashed, thus still have their protective cuticles and thus can last much longer unrefrigerated. GP's quote only applies to American eggs, which are washed.

I live in Ireland, in the EU, and I'm fairly sure all the eggs in supermarkets here are washed. There's never a spot of dirt on them. And we always refrigerate, as does everyone I know

I live in Romania, another EU country, and the eggs from the super-market are definitely not washed. They're also always refrigerated.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#166

Post by germanier »

kalleboo wrote: post #131
INTPenis wrote: post #11

I'm a swede and I had no idea, I've refrigerated eggs as long as I can remember. My parents are from Croatia though so it's kind of weird that I picked up this habit. My relatives in Croatia do not refrigerate eggs. Most swedes that I can think of refrigerate their eggs straight from the store. The recommendation is printed on the box to refrigerate. Now that I've read this article it suddenly makes sense why I've so…

Eggs are washed in Sweden and must be refrigerated. The article is generalizing about "Europe". As a side note, Sweden has eradicated salmonella in the egg-laying chicken population so Swedish eggs are 100% salmonella-free.

There is a consumer preference for washed eggs in Sweden now for decades (which seems to be the result of some information campaign). Therefore Sweden is the only EU country in which eggs can generally be washed but washing is tightly regulated there.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#167

Post by misev »

fspm wrote: post #73
mastazi wrote: post #64

Please excuse me if my question is dumb, I've never been to the US so I might just be uninformed... I've noticed in movies and shows that eggs in the US usually have a white shell, whereas in other countries (at least the ones I have lived in, i.e. Europe, SE Asia and Australia) they are usually of a colour that I would describe as beige/light-brown. is that because of the washing process described in the article, or…

Egg color is actually a genetic characteristic. The most common layer of white eggs is the Leghorn Chicken, which is pretty common in American factory farming. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leghorn_chicken I think a big aspect is just that there is a cultural expectation of eggs being white in the US. 'Free range' and Organic brands often choose chickens that lay brown eggs though, as a way to distinguish their pro…

It's opposite in Europe, eggs are typically brown, while the white ones are considered more 'natural'.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#168

Post by jon-wood »

webignition wrote: post #159
roryisok wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Ireland, in the EU, and I'm fairly sure all the eggs in supermarkets here are washed. There's never a spot of dirt on them. And we always refrigerate, as does everyone I know

My brother in law is a small-scale farmer in Wales and produces chicken and duck eggs. I've previously discussed egg washing with him. My understanding from such conversations is that eggs in the EU are definitely not washed. Supermarket caged-hen eggs are generally clean in appearance due to the lack of items that might otherwise stick to the them. I have found free range supermarket eggs, on the other hand, to some…

It wouldn't surprise me if supermarket eggs are just selected, with any that aren't clean being thrown out.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#169

Post by brisance »

ZainRiz wrote: post #164
lloydde wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When my youngest child was a baby and I was binge watching tv while comforting her, I found myself watching a doomsday preppers show. There I learned by oiling eggs they could be stored months. http://www.offthegridnews.com/off-grid-foods/preserving-eggs... looks to have confirmed the reality tv show: "[eggs] will, however, eventually develop an off-flavor, and this off-flavor is especially pronounced in eggs stored…

If you preserve the egg in lime, ash, and a few other ingredients for long enough, the egg turns into a "Century Egg" with an almost jello like look and consistency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg Tastes kinda gross though (but I might be biased)

They are awesome with pickled ginger.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#170

Post by Reason077 »

LordWinstanley wrote: post #18
RandomOpinion wrote: post #15

I think part of the article that's getting glossed over is: " A refrigerated egg, no matter the source, will be good for four or five weeks. Unrefrigerated eggs are best used within a week, though they may be fine for two. " So, one would want to refrigerate eggs (washed or unwashed) anyway if they're not all going to be used immediately.

I live in UK and never keep eggs the fridge. They easily keep for a couple of weeks or more. So I think the "use within a week" advice is over-cautious. Handy tip, if you want to know if an egg's good* or not, without breaking it: pop it in a tall glass of cold water. If it sinks, it's fine. If it floats it's gone off. [*'good' as in 'still fresh'. Unfortunately it won't tell you if it's full of salmonella, or not!]

'good' as in 'still fresh'. Unfortunately it won't tell you if it's full of salmonella, or not!

All UK chickens are vaccinated against Salmonella so there should be no chance of getting it from eggs. That's one reason why washing is considered unnecessary here.

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