Am I ruining my eggs by washing them this way?

[fogbubble]

I'm new to collecting and washing eggs, and I'm afraid I'm doing it wrong. These are duck eggs which can sometimes be a little on the dirty side. Here's my method:
We live on a clear mountain creek, and for caked-on mess, I sometimes use a handful of clean, fine-grained creek sand to scour them. I add warm water to the sand so it isn't cold when it contacts the eggs, and I use a new handful for each egg. Next I wash them with mild soap, then give a short soak in a diluted bleach solution. Finally I rinse and dry. They come out pristine-clean, germ-free, and beautiful. But I read somewhere about removing some kind of "bloom" that shortens their shelf life. I could use some advice here. Thanks!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Once you remove the bloom, just store them in the refrigerator. They will still last a long, long time.

Do not use them to try to hatch from, though, with the bloom gone. That would likely not be good.

 

[toletiquesbysam]

I scrub mine good if I'm going to be using them soon, but if they are going to sit in my fridge for a while, I leave them dirty and wash before using!

 

[cybercat]

Cut out the soap and bleach it is not nessasry. If dirty just rub underwater that is good enough. You do not need outside of egg germ free. Like others said you are removing the bloom by all that cleaning. The only reason why goverment suggest all that is for those egg laying hathceries that sell thousands of eggs thru public stores. We as growing our own do not need that extreme because we do not have theat risk of infection since we are not mass producing.

 

[Chickenmaven]

Quote:
Ditto! You are going overboard, my friend.

IMHO - anyone who is super concerned about food safety should simply avoid visiting fast food joints. Problem over!

Our homegrown eggs & veggies are super safe. Aren't we lucky?!!!