Egg "bloom" question

[Wolf-Kim]

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Well before they are packaged and hit the shelves they are dunked into a couple chemical baths. Then they are refridgerated from that point on. They MUST be refridgerated or else they will get infected by bacteria. The chemical baths and refridgeration are the key to low bacteria in commercial eggs. Commercial eggs should always be fully cooked as well, and the commercial producers make sure to put that on their cartons to avoid lawsuits.

Farm fresh eggs you really do not have to refridgerate, some people just set them on their counter-tops. I don't, I refridgerate, but I have heard of people on BYC that do not refridgerate their own eggs.

-Kim

 

[Ang]

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I don't buy this since commercial eggs don't feel oily at all. I think they would feel someone oily if they were coated with mineral oil.

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This makes sense. But tell me this. How long can an egg sit unrefrigerated before it goes bad even if you don't wash it? I am not trying to start a debate here. Just honest to goodness curiosity.

 

[d.k]

* I think that would depend a whole lot on where you live. Here in Florida, I have had eggs outside 2 days in the heat. They were fine, but for how long at 9O d.temps!!!

 

[ravenfeathers]

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I don't buy this since commercial eggs don't feel oily at all. I think they would feel someone oily if they were coated with mineral oil.

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This makes sense. But tell me this. How long can an egg sit unrefrigerated before it goes bad even if you don't wash it? I am not trying to start a debate here. Just honest to goodness curiosity.

mother earth news has a really fabulous article on this question.

 

[Ang]

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Off to read. Thanks!

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Ang, I honestly would be afraid to answer that question. I do not store eggs at room temperature, so I'm kind of skittish to tell you how long they would still be "good."

I will share a couple of my experiences though.

The first one happens on Valentine's day. I had gone out to let the flock out to forage for the day and one particular gamehen I had ran the opposite direction of the rest of the flock and dissapeared at a dead run into the barn. Curious to see what her rush was I followed and looked for her. I found her in a pile of junk, sitting on a nest she had stowed away. There were 12 white eggs in the nest. All hers, since she was the only white egg layer I had. She was NOT an everyday layer, so I assume the nest took over 2 weeks to accumulate that amount of eggs. I took all the eggs inside and did the water test, in which they all passed and I placed them in the fridge. No problems.

The second happens only a couple of weeks ago. My sexlink hen had gone broody and I had wanted her to try and hatch some peafowl. In an attempt to find a safe place to put her broody-box(dog kennel with her nest/food/water) I came upon her hidden nest in the piles of hay in the barn. It contained 7 eggs and a wind-egg. Except contrary to the gamehens nest it was at least 100 degrees in our sweltering metal roofed barn. Doubtful, I again took the eggs inside to water-test them. They all sunk like rocks, so I happily placed them in the refriderator.

So I know that eggs can last at least a couple of weeks without refridgeration. Although, this is really a question for those BYCers that commonly keep their eggs at room temps.

That was a great article, Ravenfeathers. Thanks for sharing, I just finished reading it myself.

-Kim

 

[Ang]

Excellent article that answered a ton of my questions. Thank you!

 

[ravenfeathers]

you're very welcome. i found that article a couple of weeks ago during some random googling and loved it.

 

[dacjohns]

Mineral oil and other questions.

See this website from USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. I'm just commenting on mineral oil not the pros and cons of bloom or refrigeration. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with the government regulations.

There is a lot of good and interesting information about eggs.

See the paragraph Should I Wash Eggs, a little more than halfway down the page.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/Focus_On_Shell_Eggs/index.asp

 

[WriterofWords]

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Could you define rain?