# Two Questions about Raw Eggs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174 "2017-08-31T15:08:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![yearofglad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b782af/32.png) [@yearofglad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yearofglad)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/1 "2017-08-31T15:08:07Z")
I had a dozen raw eggs - they’d been in the fridge for a while, but no longer than I usually keep eggs. Several of them, when I cracked them and put them in a griddle, had “fuzzy” yolks - the edges of the yolks weren’t well-defined like usual. There were “strands” of yolks seeping out that looked wispy, feathery, and fuzzy. I didn’t eat these. What is this a sign of, if anything? Then, I had one - this was the weirdest thing - that I could not crack. I tried cracking it on the edge of the griddle several times, turning it, trying several approaches. I ended up leaving actual black marks from the griddle on the shell of the egg. The shell never cracked cleanly. I’m sure I COULD have cracked it, if I used enough force, but I didn’t want to make a mess in the kitchen, so I eventually threw it out. In retrospect, I should’ve taken it outside and actually cracked it. This was very weird - there’s no doubt that the egg, if it were a normal raw egg, should’ve cracked with any of the attempts, but it never did. What gives? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/2 "2017-08-31T15:13:58Z")
Do you know how old those eggs were when you bought them? ---
**Author:** ![yearofglad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b782af/32.png) [@yearofglad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yearofglad)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/3 "2017-08-31T15:16:36Z")
No, I don’t. I got them from the same grocery store I always get eggs from and presume they were relatively fresh when I got them. I really didn’t pay attention to how long I had them - let’s say a few weeks? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/4 "2017-08-31T15:23:40Z")
WRT the hard shelled egg, our hen’s shells vary considerably from hen to hen. They also vary seasonally and over the lifespan of the bird. There is a normal distribution, with most eggs having a “normal” shell, but occasional eggs having thinner than usual or thicker than usual shells. The shell is laid down by [the shell gland](https://articles.extension.org//sites/default/files/styles/large/public/labeled_female_reproductive_tract_2.jpg), aka the uterus, shortly before the egg is laid. Interestingly, it takes about 10% of the hen’s body calcium to add the shell to a single egg. ---
**Author:** ![yearofglad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b782af/32.png) [@yearofglad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yearofglad)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/5 "2017-08-31T15:27:47Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > WRT the hard shelled egg, our hen’s shells vary considerably from hen to hen. They also vary seasonally and over the lifespan of the bird. There is a normal distribution, with most eggs having a “normal” shell, but occasional eggs having thinner than usual or thicker than usual shells. I’m sure there’s some variance in shell thickness, but have you ever experienced an egg that you “couldn’t” crack? One that gets mark from the griddle/pan you’re trying to crack it on? This egg just seemed impossibly thick, assuming that it’s just the thickness of the shell that was the reason. (It also seemed like quite a coincidence that it was in the same dozen as the eggs with the “fuzzy” yolks, another phenomenon I’d never seen in eggs before - to have both these oddities in the same dozen seemed, well, extremely odd.) ---
**Author:** ![vtxrider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d26b3c/32.png) [@vtxrider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vtxrider)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/6 "2017-08-31T16:06:44Z")
Is it possible that the temp in your fridge got turned up? We keep the eggs on the top shelf of the door. And at times the temp gets turned colder in the fridge and stuff starts to freeze (like the milk or whatever on the top shelf). I have had eggs actually freeze that had sat in there a while (our normal egg cartons are styrofoam, but when in just the egg holder that comes with the fridge). Is it possible it was frozen? That could have caused the weirdness in the other eggs as well, if they were starting to freeze, that might have been ice crystals or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/7 "2017-08-31T16:10:33Z")
Perhaps there was some spoilage that slightly pressurized the egg? Pressurization has a stiffening effect that would cause the egg to resist deformation. ---
**Author:** ![yearofglad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b782af/32.png) [@yearofglad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yearofglad)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/8 "2017-08-31T16:11:01Z")
> [@vtxrider](#): > > Is it possible that the temp in your fridge got turned up? Anything’s possible, but I doubt it - I haven’t noticed any changes in anything else, and nothing weird in the latest dozen eggs (which have been in about a week). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/9 "2017-08-31T16:11:40Z")
If nothing else, you can rest assured that your eggs were not bad (as in unwholesome to eat). If an egg goes bad, you **will** know it. If you ever find yourself having to ask, “Is this egg bad?”, then the answer will be “no”. ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/10 "2017-08-31T20:33:14Z")
I kept chickens for several years and oddball eggs are fairly common, you just don’t see them in commercial eggs that are all sized and graded. To grade eggs, they are “candled” which means a bright light is shown into the egg from behind and people (or cameras) look at the shadows of what is inside. An indistinct yolk membrane is a sign of freshness and so your “fuzzy” yolk would pass with flying colors. Also, the light reveals the thickness of the shell and again, a thicker shell is considered a good thing. So your eggs passed… as they should. Here’s something you never knew about eggs… you can’t cook a truly fresh one. If you take an egg that is only a few hours old and crack it into a frying pan, a very thin layer that actually touches the metal will turn white, but the rest of the egg will just sit there and get hot but stay gooey. I preferred eggs that had been sitting out for three or four days. So you had an egg that was astonishingly difficult to crack? Doesn’t surprise me at all. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/11 "2017-08-31T21:40:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If nothing else, you can rest assured that your eggs were not bad (as in unwholesome to eat). If an egg goes bad, you **will** know it. If you ever find yourself having to ask, “Is this egg bad?”, then the answer will be “no”. FWIW, I got salmonella once from eggs I thought were perfectly fine. But that might be a bit different than what you’re talking about, since you can’t really smell salmonella (to my knowledge.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/12 "2017-09-01T02:48:45Z")
Salmonella is only an issue if you don’t cook your eggs completely. If you do (and avoid cross-contamination), a salmonella-infested egg is still fine. Which is the reason why everyone says to avoid raw eggs, because salmonella is fairly common. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/13 "2017-09-01T04:46:35Z")
Sure This was in Romania, though. Just my bad luck. I eat raw or undercooked eggs here quite regularly. I think the rate in the US is something like 1 in 20,000 eggs, but I’m going by memory here from another thread. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/14 "2017-09-01T04:59:45Z")
> [@Ornery\_Bob](#): > > If you take an egg that is only a few hours old and crack it into a frying pan, a very thin layer that actually touches the metal will turn white, but the rest of the egg will just sit there and get hot but stay gooey. I preferred eggs that had been sitting out for three or four days. Not my experience :dubious: We have backyard chickens and often fry an egg for my kids within minutes of being laid. Now, I have noticed that fresh eggs don’t “run” thru the pan. You crack one open and it’s pretty much a round thick shape vs a store egg that will have little streams running off for as much as a few inches. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2017, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/15 "2017-09-01T06:16:30Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > FWIW, I got salmonella once from eggs I thought were perfectly fine. But that might be a bit different than what you’re talking about, since you can’t really smell salmonella (to my knowledge.) Yeah, you can get salmonella from very fresh eggs (and it’s not typically detectable by smell - I guess it might be when it reaches orders of magnitude greater concentration than the danger level) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/16 "2017-09-01T11:26:26Z")
Anecdotally, we’ve eaten hundreds (thousands?) of raw eggs, mostly in smoothies. Never a problem. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-raw-eggs/795174/17 "2017-09-01T15:39:04Z")
About 20 years ago the CDC estimated that 1 in every 20,000 eggs is infected with salmonella. So eating raw eggs is not dangerous except if they have been prepared industrially.