Egg storage

[Perfect Circle]

Mine live in a cupboard.

[EMuir]

Hmm! I wonder if it has to do with the time between egg laying and egg getting to consumer.  Here in Canada most eggs are mass-produced (we buy ours from a local farmer).  Maybe if it takes a few weeks to get them to the store, it's best to refrigerate them because the consumer doesn't know how old they are?  Or because in the factory farms, the risk of salmonella is higher?

[Kitty Hawk]

Here in Germany the eggs are also sold unrefrigerated.  We do put them in the fridge at home, though.

[Zilla]

How interesting.


I have seen on the show eggs stored in baskets on the counter and wondered.  I didn't know that it was common not to refrigerate them.

[nutraxfornerves]

The refrigerate-don't refrigerate thing is  more about quality than about food safety.

Eggs age must faster in warmer temperatures. As an egg gets older, moisture evaporates from the white and is replaced by air. That's why the air pocket in an egg gets bigger the longer you store it. The white gets runnier & the membrane on the yolk gets thinner & more likely to break.

Studies show that eggs can lose as much quality in one day at room temperature as in 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator. In other words, the eggs that have been sitting in your fridge for a month are about the same quality as an egg that's been at room temperature for a week.

If you are going to use the eggs immediately--as a bakery or restaurant might, then refrigeration is not as critical as in a home where you might keep them for a couple of weeks.

[Leafy]

I think in Australia it is a personal preference. I prefer to keep my eggs in the pantry but if I don't know that I'll use them all quickly, or if it is the height of summer, I'll put them in the fridge. On an interesting side note I have two local supermarkets, of the same chain, one stores eggs on the shelves and one in the fridge section. I like it when it's just on the shelf because I feel like it is then my choice whether to keep the eggs in the fridge or pantry but when I buy them and they are already chilled I feel like the choice has been made for me  .

[JoW]

The US Department of Agriculture is currently fighting this issue with the egg producers.  Salmonella (bacteria - it causes food poisoning) is often found in the reproductive tract of hens and in the eggs those hens lay.  The less time between the hen and the refrigerator the lower the number of bacteria in the egg.  The USDA wants the eggs collected several times each day and refrigerated immedately.  The producers are pushing for less frequent collection then moving the eggs to a refrigerator in larger batches every 2 or 3 days. 

I don't cook, but if I did the eggs would be refrigerated and would come from the refrigerated case in the grocery store.  Everyone I work with does the same.  I work in an animal vaccine manufacturing facility.  Many of my co-workers are microbiologists or virologists. 

[dawnfire]

I'm in Australia. In the supermarkets it is kept on the shelf. I usually store my eggs in the fridge but when  I had chickens I stored our eggs in a cool walk-through cupboard purely because I'd have needed a separete fridge for the eggs (our average egg output was about 20 eggs a day out of 30 chickens).

[princessdolly]

As long as the eggs are cooked properly there is no risk of salmonella, etc. Also it would make me uncomfortable to have they refrigerated instore as they would warm up to at least room temp on the way home and I have no idea how variations in temperature would affect the quality of the eggs taste-wise.