I have a dozen eggs that have a best by date of two weeks away.

I make some as hard boiled, according to FDA, now you only have 7 days. What changed?

Uncooked and unwashed eggs have a protective coating. Once boiled the coating is removed and bacteria can enter the shell.

I have used eggs well past the "best if used by" date, but notice they have lost some moisture content, and the membrane is "stronger" when cracking them to cook, but otherwise they are fine. The "best if used by" is more about "best quality" and not "unsafe".

If you hard boil an egg that is two weeks old, it will still be good for the 7 days after cooking if refrigerated.

^^^ I never knew that.

May I add another question......

in much of Asia and Europe they don't refrigerate their eggs. At least in the stores.

why not? what does this do to the shelf life?

Monkey basically answered your question.

Washing the egg prior to selling it removes a protective outer barrier. Once removed, bacteria can enter the egg.

Only in the US do we wash our eggs prior to selling them because we like our uneatable parts of the egg clean for some reason.

Unwashed farm eggs are the best. They keep for a long time, on the counter, so long as they have the natural barrier on them when they are laid.

Store eggs have washed and they don't last as long but they will last a long time.

IIRC, the only food required by law to have a true expiration date is baby formula. Everything else is a manufacturers suggestion more akin to "Use and go buy more before this date."

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:
^^^ I never knew that.

May I add another question......

in much of Asia and Europe they don't refrigerate their eggs. At least in the stores.

why not? what does this do to the shelf life?

They brush the eggs instead of washing them. My understanding is washing/rinsing them removes a protective coating whereas brushing does not.

Thanks for the interesting replies. I thought I was missing something else.

I knew of the outer costing being removed in US. With the FDA recommendation, I thought that was already considered. Thus wondering why the expiration became short just from cooking.

In the quest for info, I read that if you coat the eggs in oil (mineral?), they will last even longer. I guess replacing the washed off membrane.

Forgot to ask...do you flip the eggs over once in a while to make them last longer? Or is that a waste of effort?

quote:

Originally posted by TRIO:...Thus wondering why the expiration became short just from cooking.

...

Uncooked, the eg is a living organism ( a very large single cell). Cooking it stops it from it's natural state and resulting cooked proteins is subject to deterioration like other cooked animal based proteins.

Turning them does little to affect them uncooked, but there are methods people use to "store" (waterglassing) but they need to be unwashed.

Yes, using mineral oil will extend their shelf life if they have been washed < 60%.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:

quote:

Originally posted by TRIO:...Thus wondering why the expiration became short just from cooking.

...

Uncooked, the eg is a living organism ( a very large single cell). Cooking it stops it from it's natural state and resulting cooked proteins is subject to deterioration like other cooked animal based proteins.

Turning them does little to affect them uncooked, but there are methods people use to "store" (waterglassing) but they need to be unwashed.

Yes, using mineral oil will extend their shelf life if they have been washed < 60%.

I tend to agree with this. The washing doesn’t matter for expiry of cooked vs uncooked because they are all washed here in the USA. But it makes sense that raw egg has anti microbial properties and enzymes that are destroyed by cooking.

30 years ago I was hauling eggs from a commercial farm around Easter. A manager of the place explained a lot about storage and how long they last.

The upshot was that the eggs I was hauling had been laid a couple months ago. Stored at something like 30 degrees, after they were government inspected they were given a 30 day use by date. Also learned that they can be stacked 2 pallets high, roughly 8’, 3 pallets high will make an egg farm manager absolutely lose his shit. Storage facility was stackin’ em deep.

Thank you Sigmonkey & Freyedends for the very good explanation. I suspected that there was something I was missing. Learn sumptin every day!

I raise chickens as a hobby and of course eggs:


Fun facts: GENERAL EGG KNOWLEDGE
 
1. Storing eggs upside-down makes them last longer. Turning your eggs upside down before stashing them in the fridge will make them last longer. Placing the pointy end down in the carton will prevent air pockets inside the shell from coming in contact with the yolk, which helps slow down the aging process.
 
2. It is generally not recommended to eat eggs from reptiles like snakes and lizards, or other non-bird animals, because their eggs are not a good source of nutrition for humans. They are often high in fat and low in protein compared to bird eggs. Some reptile eggs can carry harmful bacteria or parasites that can make you sick.
 
3. Washed eggs need to be refrigerated. When a hen lays an egg, with that egg pops out with a nearly invisible coating called a bloom. This bloom helps prevent air and bacteria from permeating the shell and prematurely aging the egg. That is why fresh eggs straight from the chicken are often placed in bowls or baskets on the kitchen counter. Grocery store eggs, on the other hand, have been washed, thus removing the bloom and requiring refrigeration to keep them fresh.
 
4. The color of the egg yolk should be very bright yellow or deep orange. The difference in color is based on what the chicken is eating. Chickens who only eat the grain feed given to them will lay eggs that are yellow. Chickens that are free-range and eat mostly bugs and vegetation will produce these orange yolks.
 
5. Chickens can still lay eggs even if there is no rooster (Male chicken). Many people think that you need a rooster for a hen to lay eggs. Most of the hens producing eggs today have never seen a rooster in their life.
 
6. In the stores, you can usually find small, medium, large, and jumbo or extra-large eggs. Some may speculate this has to do with breed, but in the commercial industry, it usually has more to do with a hen's age. The Older the Hen, the Bigger the Eggs. The older the hen, the more likely she is to produce these larger eggs.
 
7. Apart from using water to test the freshness of an egg, there are other ways to tell if an egg Is fresh:
If the shell seems unusually thick, then it is fresh.
If the yolk stands really tall after you have cracked the egg, it is fresh.
If the yolk has wrinkles or dissolves into a puddle when you crack it open, then it is an old egg.
 
8. A chicken will lay bigger and stronger eggs if you change the lighting in a way to make her think a day is 28 hours long.
 
9. Eggs are good for your eyes. They contain lutein which prevents cataracts and muscle degeneration.
 
10. Breed determines egg shell color. Commercial eggs are brown or white, but some breeds can also lay blue, green, or pink eggs.
 
11. Duck eggs are higher in fat and better for baking.
 
12. Brown eggs are more expensive than white eggs, because the hens that lay them are larger and require more feed

Everything you read from downtownv is 100 % correct. Where you live in Lehigh PA there must be local egg farms around every corner, go find one and buy your eggs there. I raise a small flock of free range chickens and you can't beat a fresh egg.

Except...Costco sells boiled and already shelled eggs that have like a month to expiration. What magic do they do to those eggs???

Preservatives.

quote:

Originally posted by BB61:
Except...Costco sells boiled and already shelled eggs that have like a month to expiration. What magic do they do to those eggs???

Eat all the magic you care to....just saying.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:

quote:

Originally posted by TRIO:...Thus wondering why the expiration became short just from cooking.

...

Uncooked, the eg is a living organism ( a very large single cell). Cooking it stops it from it's natural state and resulting cooked proteins is subject to deterioration like other cooked animal based proteins.

Turning them does little to affect them uncooked, but there are methods people use to "store" (waterglassing) but they need to be unwashed.

Yes, using mineral oil will extend their shelf life if they have been washed < 60%.

I shall call you Eggman from now on. Just kidding. I learn so much from this place!

I have a good source of free range chicken and duck eggs.


My pups eat a lot of eggs! They love them!


I also enjoy some free range chicken and duck eggs from time to time.

The chicken eggs I get are all different sizes and different colors, but they are all delicious, at least my pups think so.... LoL....

I know one thing, a duck egg needs one heck of a wack to crack them open!


Funny thing, my boy won't hardly eat the shell of a chicken egg, but he will try to steal the shell of duck eggs from his sister.


I don't refrigerate my eggs, duck or chicken. A week or two is all they last, and they are unwashed, farmette fresh, free range eggs.



ARman

quote:

Originally posted by Schmelby:...

I shall call you Eggman from now on. Just kidding.

I am the walrus... goo goo g’joob!

My youngest daughter had about 150 free range chickens and couple dozen ducks. She told me a whole lotta stuff about them, and I remembered some of it. LOL