washing eggs

[Chick_a_dee]

I wash my duck eggs when I get them, they're always covered in poo

 

[LOVE2FARM]

Thanks, I was told it had to be warmer, but never knew it was 20 degrees. I guess I won't worry that my water is too hot.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Quote:
Very true.

.....Alan.

 

[1 Florida chick]

The local farm I buy eggs from sometimes has an egg wash powder they use to wash the eggs. You can do a google search and find it sold many places. Here are the instuctions from one website. www.eggcartons.com/downloads/eggwashpowder.pdf

 

[Gomanson]

One of my hens likes to roost in the egg box every few nights, so my eggs often have small bits of manure on them, along with some dirt if it's muddy. I rinse all of my eggs in warm water with a small bit of antibacterial soap. Eggs which are clean get a miniscule ammount of soap. Eggs which are very dirty get rinsed, fried, and thrown outside for the dog.

Never had any complaints of soap taste and no one's gotten sick.

HOWEVER, my washing with soap MAY have something to do with another problem I have, which I'm about to make a new thread about: spots on eggs.

 

[zoomia]

Just a slight hijack here, because the topic of antibacterial soap came up. I just wanted to say that using regular soap is, for the most part, just as effective as killing germs as antibacterial soap, and the overuse of triclosan and triclocarban (the most commonly used antibacterial agents) is not only leading to resistant strains of bacteria, but is also polluting our water. No one knows what the health or environmental consequences are, but here's some more information:

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=89871
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no3_supp/levy.htm
http://endo.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/en.2007-1057v1



Okay, off my soapbox now. And no, I don't wash my eggs. Which probably won't surprise you.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I get a dish rag, and get it wet with warm water, and then just scrub on the eggs with it. And if one is really dirty, then I put it in a bowl with hot water and leave it for a few minutes, and then it comes right off.

 

[Chicksdigit]

Every Monday I wash mine in a dishpan full of hot water and antibacterial Dawn dish detergent then rinse in hot water and then set out on the counter on a towel to air dry after they are dry I put them in cartons and place them in the fridge. Usually there are 6-8 Dozen eggs which I give away. We wash the ones we eat as we use them, I don't like the thought of chicken dirt falling off into the bowl as I crack the eggs no matter how small the particles.

My Aunt and Uncle used to have a Big egg operation ( yes Battery hens) in the 60 and 70's and they gathered eggs several times a day and sprayed them with mineral oil. Then Safeway (Grocers) came and picked them up daily. They never washed the eggs, but I am kind of sure the eggs were washed somewhere in the packaging process.

 

[tnchickenut]

Quote:
You do it alot like me and for the same reasons... I also don't like the idea of poo being in my fridge.

I read in more than one place that you should wash eggs for consumption... always with as hot water as you can stand. Cooler water will contract the egg and it will suck in the bacteria and salmonella... hot water expands the shell and pushes out bacterias that are in the shell.