how to sanitize eggs?

[Renthorin]

My ladies began laying a few weeks ago. When I gather the eggs, they are clean to me, but my wife is concerned about bacteria. I read that you want to use water that is warmer than the eggs to make them expand, or else they can shrink and draw microbes into the egg.

I added enough bleach to the water to make my hands smell like I was cleaning the bathroom.

I dunked the eggs in the bleach water and rubbed them around, then set them out to dry.

Should i be doing more?

thanks,

Will

 

[JodyJo]

http://smallfarm.about.com/od/farmanimals/a/How-To-Clean-Eggs.htm

follow this link, if you insist on cleaning them...by doing so you are actually allowing bacteria into the egg...when the hen lays the egg, she coats it with a wet substance called "bloom", whenyou wash off the bloom, you allow bacteria inside...if you want to sanitize before using, that is fine, but I would not do so till I use them.

 

[Renthorin]

I'm not using cold water, I'm using hot. that causes the egg to expand and doesn't allow bacteria in, while the bleach does its job...or so I read.

 

[bambi]

I do not wash the eggs. My understanding is that when you wash the eggs you are removing the bloom that is a protective coating due to the fact they are porous so when you wash them you are opening them up to potential bacteria.
Of course if they are dirty I gently wipe it clean.

 

[JodyJo]

Quote:
but....you have removed the bloom.....hot water or cold...its now gone....if you eat them quickly no issue...its not something I do, and I don't recommend it to any of my buyers....I prefer my farm fresh eggs, without the bleach....if I wanted that, I would buy them from a store!
But you do what your wife wishes, keep the peace....

 

[klmclain1]

If you feel you need to wash your eggs..do so ONLY before using. Otherwise you'll wash off their natural antibacterial coating.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Quote:
I have read that about hot water, too. I haven't read about using bleach, but I am guessing they were talking about a very small amount mixed into hot water. Although washing off the bloom makes the egg more porous, it may not make a really big difference if you are not storing them for a long time.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

The bloom on an egg is not a magical barrier against microbial contamination. It works to a point, but it can only do so much.

Whether you want to wash the eggs or not is entirely up to you. I do wash mine and my customers who buy eggs from me want eggs that look clean when they open the carton. The bloom on an egg is also not a magical preservative that will keep an egg fresh forever. It can help to slow moisture loss more than if it is washed off, but you'd have to store the eggs for weeks to really discern much difference. I don't sell old eggs nor do I believe my customers keep them on hand that long either.

If your wife wants the eggs to be sanitized then a tablespoon of plain laundry bleach in a gallon of warm water poured over the eggs will suffice.

She needs to understand though that this will not guarantee the eggs are microbially clean. It is possible for bacteria to contaminate a hen's ovaries so that they are essentially built into the egg as it is made. The chances of anything bad coming of that are pretty remote but it can happen.

 

[Fred's Hens]

The commercial egg industry washes ALL eggs, of course. This mini "debate" occurs almost daily here on BYC. It is purely a personal preferences and reasons exist for either option. Bottom line is you still have to cook an egg properly to minimize contamination issues, regardless whether one washes or not. There's no magic either way.

 

[Renthorin]

her main concern is when we crack the eggs to put on the dogs' food, some of the 'white' touches the outside of the egg, thus picking up any bacteria on the outside of the shell and transferring to the dogs' food. The bloom may protect the inside of the egg, but I doubt it does much to the salmonella that is potentially on the outside.

I'm hoping that by rinsing them off in bleach water I kill the bugs on the outside of the egg. From what I read, using warm water causes the egg to expand and that keeps bacteria from being pulled into the egg, which can happen if you use cold water and the egg shrinks.

After washing, I put them into the fridge and I'm thinking the combination of bleach sanitation and the cold fridge will keep them mostly microbe free until I use them.

With 8 dogs, the eggs get used within 2 days of being laid.