# refrigerating eggs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 24, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/refrigerating-eggs/358087 "2006-05-24T21:23:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RCGDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@RCGDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RCGDC)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/refrigerating-eggs/358087/21 "2006-05-27T03:05:16Z")
I could be wrong, but I thought the Salmonella was not _IN THE EGG_, but on the shell. Therefore the egg was OK but when you broke it, the shell contaminated the white and or the yolk. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/refrigerating-eggs/358087/22 "2006-05-27T03:11:10Z")
[QUOTE=Sierra Indigo] Fair enough. I am basing my information on the supermarkets (coles, woolworths, Bi-Lo) I’ve been to in Adelaide, where they’re all kept in the same area, next to or in the fridges. [/QUOTE] Most supermarkets I visit (say - rectally extracting a number here - 75%) have eggs at room temperature, sitting on a shelf. My local Woolworths certainly does this. The eggs go into the fridge once they’re home though. I think, in the life of an egg, from being laid, to being transported, to eventually being eaten after spending ages in my fridge, the short time on a non-refridgerated supermarket shelf doesn’t amount to much, and the supermarkets are saving money that way. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/refrigerating-eggs/358087/23 "2006-05-27T04:28:20Z")
I am even now recovering from a bad bout of salmonella. Trust me; you don’t want to go looking for it. Unless you think straddling a toilet and praying to die, for 72 hours until the pain meds and the antibiotics take hold, a fun time. I’d rank the constant intestinal spasms on a par with kidney stones, which I’ve also done. The agony from the spasms was so intense that I got Percocet for the pain. So, yeah, I guess, it was kind of nice . . . ah, Percocet . . . ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/refrigerating-eggs/358087/24 "2006-05-27T04:45:19Z")
[QUOTE=RCGDC] I could be wrong, but I thought the Salmonella was not _IN THE EGG_, but on the shell. Therefore the egg was OK but when you broke it, the shell contaminated the white and or the yolk. [/QUOTE] I beleive that this is not true. [http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/ANS00106.html](http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/ANS00106.html) > [@](#): > > In the past, Salmonella was associated with cracked eggs or eggs dirty > with fecal matter, a problem controlled by cleaning procedures implemented > in the egg industry. But the CDC reported in 1988 and again today that in > the new cases, where the food source could be identified, most of the > outbreaks were associated with uncracked, disinfected Grade A eggs, or foods > containing such eggs. The undamaged eggs appear to have become contaminated > by a relatively new route – from the mother hen, during ovulation, and thus > were contaminated with the bacteria before the egg shell was formed. ---
**Author:** ![daffyduck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@daffyduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daffyduck)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/refrigerating-eggs/358087/25 "2006-05-27T18:56:46Z")
[QUOTE=Sattua] I would eat a raw egg for breakfast every morning, if the FDA would approve doing so. I loooooooove raw things. [/QUOTE] I think it depends on what you hope to get from the eggs. If you are eating them raw for emotional reasons; go for it. If you are eating them for the protein, then you’d be fooling yourself. Raw egg protein is about 51% digested, while cooked egg protein is about 90% digested. [Cite](http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/128/10/1716) You could make an argument for eating them raw if you want the enzymes, but you’d get more enzymes for your money by taking an enzyme supplement. Eating raw eggs might be fun, but it doesn’t make much nutritional sense. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/refrigerating-eggs/358087/26 "2006-05-28T13:41:51Z")
re: dirty shells: in Mexico eggs are sold at room temperature, and _aren’t_ washed prior to sale. Yeah, even at the big mega-mart chains. We always refrigerated them upon purchase, though. Salmonella sucks, but the good news is (as says A.B.) it’s rare in eggs. The even better news is that if you ingest a single, salmonella-laden egg, there’s unlikely to be enough salmonella to do you any real serious damage (notice I said “unlikely”; not “impossible”). Most of the egg-related salmonella problems occur when one or more salmonella-infected eggs are added to vast quantities of eggs or egg mixtures, and then allowed to reproduce to dangerous levels via unsafe food practices. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/refrigerating-eggs/358087.md?page=1)