When you’ve cracked an egg, what do you do with the leftover eggshell? Do you toss it in the garbage immediately or do you leave it in the egg carton and toss the eggshells out with the empty carton?
My husband tells me that leaving the empty shells in the carton is a good way to grow salmonella in our refrigerator risking cross contamination of the intact eggs and everything else.
And it grosses him out.
And just because my mother did it doesn’t make it right.
I think it’s no big deal because if there is salmonella it’s on the outside of the egg and would already be present in the fridge. The important thing is making sure you don’t touch already cooked or to-be-eaten-raw food to eggshells or raw meat; and most importantly, that you wash your hands frequently while cooking when handling meat or anything that came out of the vicinity of a chicken’s butt.
I pitch most of them in a bowl to dry for a day or two, then grind them and give them back to the chickens.
As for what you’re doing, I presume you’re washing your hands before closing the carton and not touching the other shells when getting new eggs out. Frankly, I think you’re more likely to get cross-contamination from storing meat in your fridge.
Pretty much, yes. I wash my hands after handling the egg carton. I figure the whole carton is suspect. But my trash bin is not right where I crack eggs (at the stove, usually) and I prefer not to carry them across the room possibly dripping raw egg on the floor to drop them in the garbage. Like some people. Gross.
My method keeps any and all egg drips on the counter where it will be quickly cleaned up or in the carton which will remain closed in the fridge. I’m pretty sure if there’s salmonella in my house, it’s on my sink and sponge. I’m don’t feel all that inclined to blast everything with sanitizer all the time.
I throw them into the garden to add to the soil and birds’ nutrients. I would not leave egg shells in the carton. If I were not putting them in the garden, I would toss them down the garbage disposal.
If I need them for the garden, I put them in a bowl to dry out and then crush them to sprinkle around the hosta plants. Slugs hate crushed eggshell. Otherwise, they go into the garbage disposal.
My mother used to put them in a blender along with other rotten veggies. She’d add water and call it veggie soup. She would then take it out to her AZ garden and pour it around the plants.
In the U.S., composting is much more the exception than the rule. Most people let the garbage disposal grind it up, or throw it in the trash. You’ll probably find a higher fraction of composters here than in the U.S. population at large, but I’m pretty confident that composters will be a clear minority in this poll.
I’d personally never considered it until I moved into this house 13 years ago. The previous owner had built a compost bin, and I figured what the hell, I might as well use it. Now I wouldn’t think of doing anything else with my eggshells, coffee grounds, vegetable waste, yard clippings, etc.
Because it’s gross is why. Just like “why don’t we put orange peels back in the fruit bowl?” has the same answer. Oranges probably wouldn’t get contaminated by the peels any more than eggs sharing a carton with shells would since the whole oranges have a nice thick peel themselves and at normal humidity/room temperature the old ones dry out sooner than get slimy, but it’s just not usually done. People find mixing food remains with fresh food icky, and that’s all there is to it.
