To wash. Or not to wash. That, is the question.

[HuskerHens18]

Im considering hiring the keebler elves to do all my cooking since its so tiny in there.

That would be nice, there's so many tiny and impossible places to clean! There's gaps under my cupboards and so much food and dust gets trapped underneath it just grosses me out. My vacuums don't reach and neither does the feather duster! Ugh!

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

View attachment 1512747
One reason I wash is because I don't own any egg cartons, so there's no way to separate all these eggs from touching my cheese, cream cheese, and fruit that's hidden under all that. I wash all my fruit too.

I blame that I'm half city girl, half farm girl. My mom was very clean while my dad came home everyday covered head to toe in pig feces. So although I'm not afraid to get dirty, my house is not the place to store unclean butt nuggets, or anything unclean for that matter.

That's kinda why I do things like that. I have nothing against unwashed eggs, or the people for that matter, just not in my house!! I'll wash YOU at the door if you show up dirty!

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

That would be nice, there's so many tiny and impossible places to clean! There's gaps under my cupboards and so much food and dust gets trapped underneath it just grosses me out. My vacuums don't reach and neither does the feather duster! Ugh!

Try putting a paper towel tube on your vacuum attachment. It should be able to bend and flex where you need it

 

[Perris]

those of you stateside may be interested to know that EU regulations prohibit the washing or refrigeration of eggs prior to sale (while requiring a label on the carton recommending refrigeration after purchase) because condensation may form on eggs moved out of a fridge into room temperature, and that condensation compromises the bloom, potentially allowing harmful microorganisms in.

 

[Flamens Farm]

I only wash those that are going in the fridge for someone else to eat. Ours stay on the counter. Very dirty eggs (especially from the extreme amount of rain we had) are given back to my animals. I am incubating and doing an experiment right now. Some are dirty, some are not and some have been washed with peroxide. They started hatching at 1 am this morning and I have noticed that it does not matter, they are hatching from all the different ranges. They are due tomorrow and I have 20 so far with about 10 more that have pipped and 17 more that had chicks at my last candling before shutdown. I did not use water.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

those of you stateside may be interested to know that EU regulations prohibit the washing or refrigeration of eggs prior to sale (while requiring a label on the carton recommending refrigeration after purchase) because condensation may form on eggs moved out of a fridge into room temperature, and that condensation compromises the bloom, potentially allowing harmful microorganisms in.

No refrigeration without representation?

 

[AxefishGoddess]

I only wash an egg right before cracking and only if it is visibly dirty, which rarely happens so i guess i have only rinsed under warm running water only a literal handful of the hundreds of eggs i have cooked for myself and family so far.

Hey everyone!

So this is going to be more of a collection of ideas all in one place for chicken eggs. I'm aware of the pros and the cons of egg washing for the most part. But I still think this would be a useful thread for anyone looking for the arguments from both sides, as well as a poll to see which thought camp is larger. So in this thread just post if you wash your eggs or not and what your thought is about it, as well as vote in the poll.

Thanks everyone, and happy laying!

 

[HuffleClaw]

I for one don't like chicken poop and dirt in my fridge where other food goes, so I'm on the washing side I'm not concerned about getting salmonella from the eggs, I just think it's disgusting putting feces and other things it collects from being on the ground in my fridge exposed to other foods.

Good thread

Oh I wash "clean" eggs too, not just dirty ones. Their egg came out the same hole as everything else does lol. If I left eggs out of the fridge... hmm I'm not sure what'd I would do. Might still wash them all.

Meee tooo

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Here a few years back my brother used to wash the easy, mostly clean ones and give them to everyone else, and then the really messy ones he'd wash up a bit and give to me... "Here, you can clean these up..."

What are brothers for!

Didn't bother me, but I had to convince my wife that's where the flavor comes from.

I just built a roll away nest box, hoping to reduce the amount of "flavor" that gets on the eggs... we'll see how it goes once they start laying (just under 18 wks now)

I'm undecided on the washing question, but voted 'wash' for now, though.

 

[AgentJeffy]

those of you stateside may be interested to know that EU regulations prohibit the washing or refrigeration of eggs prior to sale (while requiring a label on the carton recommending refrigeration after purchase) because condensation may form on eggs moved out of a fridge into room temperature, and that condensation compromises the bloom, potentially allowing harmful microorganisms in.

Exactly. Actually the rest of the civilized world (minus the US of course) does NOT wash or refrigerate their eggs. It has been determined that washing them poses more threats than not washing. I for one keep my eggs in the fridge in cartons, but I do not wash them before storing them. I only keep them in the fridge because we don't eat them as fast as their produced and refrigeration keeps them for longer. But they don't leave the fridge so the threat of condensation isn't there.