# Eggs in England **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 29, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481 "2012-11-29T17:00:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/61 "2012-11-30T16:44:13Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > That’s because the eggs (in America) are kept in the refrigerated section of the supermarket.Which is also where the dairy products are. > Ergo, eggs are dairy. > See? It’s simple logic. 🙂 Do you consider chickens to be “milk-bearing” animals? I didn’t realize that I had to also include a statement that chickens are NOT “milk-bearing” animals. Just to be clear - eggs are not dairy products. Non-dairy-product eggs are found in the “dairy section” of U.S. supermarkets which leads some people to believe that non-dairy-product eggs are actually dairy products. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/62 "2012-11-30T16:51:33Z")
Dairy eggs in America maybe. [British eggs are lion eggs](http://www.lioneggs.co.uk/). ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/63 "2012-11-30T16:58:05Z")
Speaking of colored eggs - Blue Ameraucanas hens lay light blue eggs. and “Easter Eggers” are hybrids that carry the blue-egg gene of the true Araucana breed and can lay blue, green, white, creamy brown or pinkish eggs but each hen will only lay one color. [http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Tinted-or-Green-Egg-Layers-c65.aspx](http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Tinted-or-Green-Egg-Layers-c65.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/64 "2012-11-30T16:59:56Z")
Googling “milking a chicken” gets some pretty interesting links. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/65 "2012-11-30T17:46:36Z")
Back before the food pyramid (in the 80s), dietary guidelines stressed the importance of “balanced meals” from the four food groups: fruits & veggies, meat, grains, and dairy. I seem to recall eggs being included in the “dairy” group, but [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_USDA_nutrition_guides#Basic_Four) contradicts my memory and places them in the much more apt “meat” group. Regardless, I have never considered eggs “dairy” before, but I see other people do it all the time and I always assumed it was because of the four food groups. Apparently I was wrong. Does anybody else know why people mistake eggs for dairy so often? (I also always thought the term “square meal” came from the four food groups, but that term long predates the nutrition guidelines.) ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/66 "2012-11-30T18:07:39Z")
Thank you for settling the old question “Are eggs considered dairy?” for me. I could never figure out why eggs were in the dairy section, since everything else dairy is a milk product. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/67 "2012-11-30T19:06:31Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > . . . Does anybody else know why people mistake eggs for dairy so often? Until this thread, I have never, ever heard of anyone referring to eggs as a dairy product. Sounds like an experiment, though. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/68 "2012-11-30T19:11:54Z")
I always assumed that eggs were considered “dairy” because, on an old fashioned farm, they were dealt with (stored, cleaned, whatever) in the dairy, the same room where milk products such as cream, butter and cheese were prepared, and were dealt with by the same workers. I think dairy work - milking cows, churning butter, feeding chickens, collecting eggs etc. - was mostly women’s work, whereas the men were mostly responsible for the meat animals and the field crops. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/69 "2012-11-30T19:19:46Z")
I think the “dairy” label is because eggs, as a farm product type (i.e., all nutrition aside), are much more similar to milk than to meat: They are an ongoing output from a living animal (like milk and all its derivatives), rather than a cut from a slaughtered animal (or a perishable vegetable, or a shelf-stable grain…). Most likely, many of the farmers that produced/sold dairy products on an ongoing basis in the olden days also would produce/sell eggs. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/70 "2012-11-30T19:24:32Z")
I think milkmen frequently delivered milk, eggs, cheese, etc. I often see milk, cheese and eggs photographed together. ---
**Author:** ![tadtooornamental](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@tadtooornamental](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadtooornamental)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/71 "2012-11-30T21:30:28Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I really hope that’s a joke… Why would it be a joke? From [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com): Dairy, adjective: containing or made from milk. Eggs are not made from milk. They are, in the US, typically lumped in with dairy products for convenience, but they are not dairy. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/72 "2012-11-30T21:35:00Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I don’t know. Pop culture never shows brown eggs. And I’ve never seen them outside of New England. But in New England, there are more browns than whites. And most whites can be gotten at national chains like 7-11. There is always at least two brands of brown eggs available here in Memphis at the grocery store, so it isn’t that hard to find them ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/73 "2012-12-01T04:44:20Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Refrigerators are often equipped with inbuilt (or accessory) egg racks in the door shelves - so I suppose it’s expected that we’ll keep them there. I never do because of the disadvantages of cooking chilled eggs (cakes come out heavier and boiled eggs are more likely to crack in the pan) I think they finally stopped including these in refrigerators sometime in the 80s. Even as a kid we never, ever used them, there was no reason to move them from an egg carton into those silly racks. Not sure why they ever even came about, other than being an example of post-WWII ‘atomic design’ kitchen-of-tomorrow sort of thing (like dispenser racks in the freezer for frozen dinners)… ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/74 "2012-12-01T05:04:21Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I think they finally stopped including these in refrigerators sometime in the 80s. Even as a kid we never, ever used them, there was no reason to move them from an egg carton into those silly racks. Not sure why they ever even came about, other than being an example of post-WWII ‘atomic design’ kitchen-of-tomorrow sort of thing (like dispenser racks in the freezer for frozen dinners)… I bought a brand new fridge last year that has one. (I don’t use it, though.) ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/75 "2012-12-01T06:51:07Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Speaking of colored eggs - > Blue Ameraucanas hens lay light blue eggs. > and > “Easter Eggers” are hybrids that carry the blue-egg gene of the true Araucana breed and can lay blue, green, white, creamy brown or pinkish eggs but each hen will only lay one color. > > [http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Tinted-or-Green-Egg-Layers-c65.aspx](http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Tinted-or-Green-Egg-Layers-c65.aspx) My parents actually have about eight of those hens. So we regularly have green, blue, brown and white eggs in a carton in the fridge. They’re pretty neat actually and my only complaint about fresh eggs is they don’t boil worth a damn. Also, no one’s mentioned either that here in the US, brown eggs tend to cost more than white eggs. At least all the places I’ve seen here on the west coast. People seem to believe that brown ones are healthier and are willing to pay extra for them. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/76 "2012-12-01T07:02:41Z")
A “dairy” is the place where milk is collected and/or processed, and that’s what I think of when I hear the word . With that in mind it confused me no end to see eggs called a “dairy product”. They’re probably kept with the dairy products (both traditionally and currently) because they shouldn’t be exposed to extreme temperatures. They will last longer if they are kept cool than if they are left in the sun, so it’s better to put them with the milk than other shelf stable products. ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/77 "2012-12-01T07:22:34Z")
This time of year the grocery stores start carrying chicken milk. But they always only label it as the French “lait de poule.” ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/78 "2012-12-01T08:45:37Z")
In Thai, “Who Sells Chicken Eggs?” (ใครขายไข่ไก่ – Khrai Khai Khai Kai ?) is a popular phrase to practice tones. Thus I end up buying a lot of eggs despite that they’re contraindicated for my blood lipids. > [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > > [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > > > . . . Anyway refrigerated eggs last about 8 weeks . . . . > > YMMV. In my experience, refrigerated eggs can last for months. How many months? Two? > [@TriPolar](#): > > I can taste the difference between brown and white eggs as long as I know what color they were to start with. If I don’t know what color they were, they taste the same. I wonder why that is? Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, I suppose. Getting certainty in the taste implies uncertainty in the color. (… Sorry. I must be in a funny mood this morning.) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/79 "2012-12-01T09:37:22Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I think they finally stopped including these in refrigerators sometime in the 80s. Even as a kid we never, ever used them, there was no reason to move them from an egg carton into those silly racks. Not sure why they ever even came about, other than being an example of post-WWII ‘atomic design’ kitchen-of-tomorrow sort of thing (like dispenser racks in the freezer for frozen dinners)… Nah, my fridge (bought this same year) has them. But, at least in my family, eggs moved to the fridge as a way to keep them out of the reach of children. The only place where I’ve seen refrigerated eggs being sold outside the US was in a supermarket in Costa Rica which was locally known as “the tourist supermarket” (much more expensive and it sold many products the locals didn’t see the point of). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481/80 "2012-12-01T09:48:59Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I think they finally stopped including these in refrigerators sometime in the 80s. Even as a kid we never, ever used them, there was no reason to move them from an egg carton into those silly racks. Not sure why they ever even came about, other than being an example of post-WWII ‘atomic design’ kitchen-of-tomorrow sort of thing (like dispenser racks in the freezer for frozen dinners)… They’re still around - I bought a new fridge last year and it came with a couple of little dimpled plates in the door shelves - clearly designed for eggs. I don’t use them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eggs-in-england/642481.md?page=5)