Egg life span

[Saint_Cad]

I have heard conflicting things on the perishibility of eggs from do not use after the expiration date to being good from months. Room temperature does not hurt eggs to “an hour at room temperature takes a day off their life”.

What is the straight dope?

[Askia]

We’re talking chicken eggs or ova in the womb?

[Saint_Cad]

@Askia

We’re talking chicken eggs or ova in the womb?

Chicken eggs for cooking

[TellMeI_mNotCrazy]

The American Egg Board has a pretty informative page on this: http://www.aeb.org/LearnMore/OtherQuestions.htm

1. How can I tell if my eggs have spoiled?

The faster you use your eggs, the less time any potential bacteria will have to multiply. However, when properly handled and stored, eggs rarely spoil. Instead, as an egg ages, the white becomes thinner, the yolk becomes flatter and the yolk membrane weakens. Although these changes may affect appearance, they don’t indicate spoilage and don’t have any great effect on the nutritional quality of the egg or its functions in recipes. Rather than spoiling, if you keep eggs long enough, they’re more likely to simply dry up – especially if they’re stored in a moisture-robbing, frost-free refrigerator.

But, like all natural organic matter, eggs can eventually spoil through the action of spoilage organisms. Although they’re unpleasant, spoilage organisms don’t cause foodborne illness. The bacteria Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Micrococcus and Bacillus may be found on egg shell surfaces because all these species can tolerate dry conditions. As the egg ages, though, these bacteria decline and are replaced by spoilage bacteria, such as coliform and Flavobacterium, but the most common are several types of Pseudomonas. Pseudomonas can grow at temperatures just above refrigeration and below room temperatures and, if they’re present in large numbers, may give eggs a sour or fruity odor and a blue-green coloring.

Although it is more likely for bacteria to cause spoilage during storage, mold growth can occur under very humid storage conditions or if eggs are washed in dirty water. Molds such as Penicillum, Alternaria and Rhizopus may be visible as spots on the shell and can penetrate the shell to reach the egg.

Discard any eggs with shells – or, for hard-cooked eggs, egg white surfaces – that don’t look or feel clean, normally colored and dry. A slimy feel can indicate bacterial growth and, regardless of color, powdery spots that come off on your hand may indicate mold.

and for storage:

Fresh shell eggs can be kept refrigerated in their carton for at least 4 - 5 weeks beyond the pack date. Quality losses should be insignificant if the eggs are refrigerated as soon as possible after purchase from a refrigerated case.

Hard cooked eggs should be kept in the refrigerator for up to one week.

However, the US is the only place I’ve been where eggs are almost always refrigerated. Here, they’re stored on a regular, non-refrigerated rack until they’re sold. I tend to refrigerate them out of habit, but when I had a tiny refrigerator, the eggs were the first thing to get moved to the cupboards when I ran out of room. Never realized just how paranoid about eggs I was until I moved to a country where “blood spots” are more the norm than the exception, and eggs are not habitually refrigerated. In the US I’d throw away a carton of eggs if I somehow forgot to put it in the refrigerator, not knowing that it wasn’t a problem, and I always cracked eggs into a separate container before adding them to the other eggs. If there was a blood spot, I’d toss it. Again, I had been raised to believe that it meant the egg was bad. If I threw away those eggs now, I’d be able to use two out of a carton, at the most.

[Cat_Jones]

I’m 35 years old and alive - my Mum is 74 and still alive - she never puts eggs in the fridge, ever.

There they sit, in a house in the UK, on a north-eaterly facing window sill, in a terracotta bowl (bought in California in the late 60s for this specific purpose*). Any time she buys new eggs she marks the ones already in the bowl so she knows which to use fisrt. I rarely put my eggs in the fridge either (current kitchen is small with a captial ‘small’ so not much space for eggs out of the fridge) and never even bother looking at any dates stamped on them.

I was taught at school that all you need to know is how to tell when an egg is ‘off’ - it floats in water. Egg doesn’t float, egg is ok to eat. Period.

Only a couple of times have I had to discard en egg for being a “floater”.

*She lived there and saw a friend displaying eggs like this so bought herself a similar bowl, I’m not implying it is a special egg preserving bowl, mine often sit in a woven mexican tortilla basket.

[AskNott]

For baking or sauces, eggs should always be warmed to room temp. For easy to peel hard boiled eggs, buy them a week before the boiling. (That’s for refrigerated eggs. I don’t know about unrefrigerated ones.)

A puzzle/joke: XRLT4U.