[edit] I see WA 23 answered better than I did!!! so take mine with a grain of salt! Though my father did work at that company, either he was mistaken about time, or possibly exaggerated?... hehe. 75 days is 2.5 mo? Still doesn't mean spoiled just not too great I'd think.[/end edit]
If they're in a cool spot, quite a while. I try to keep it down to a couple weeks, and when pushed, not much over a month, and our cold part of our basement is about 50 in the winter I think... (now I need a thermometer there cause I'm curious! LOL ). I don't refrigerate eggs for my own use at all... counter is fine for a dozen at a time, basement is cool enough for me otherwise, even in the summer, (probably 65 or so in the one corner).
This is Ohio's regs and I think other states are similar....
925.03 Maintaining shell eggs in refrigeration.
(A) Each producer and processor shall maintain shell eggs in refrigeration at an ambient temperature that does not exceed forty-five degrees Fahrenheit.
http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/925
I refrigerate any I'm giving away or selling even though in Ohio a home producer selling directly from the place the chickens are, is exempt from even that rule.
I do agree that eggs can be and often are warehoused for months at a time before they reach our tables. My father worked for a company called Cottage Creamery at one time, and they marketed eggs under their company name. Purchased them from a middle-man company who had them in a warehouse for some weeks, then they got them to their warehouse, stored for some weeks, shipped to wherever they got delivered to, and they stored em for some time too. It adds up by the time eggs get put on a shelf. I think in off months, it did add up to 4 months regularly, and occasionally up to 6. They had a Quality Control section who would break a certain number to check them if the time went above a certain level. I'm sure different companies have different standards.
If kept
too long they start to drop in grade, which is measured by air cell size among other things... I've tried to read it all, but I had 20 years of 'other' regulations... I lost energy for sifting through the USDA regs.