
Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs? - sidraqasim1
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/insider/why-do-americans-refrigerate-their-eggs.html?_r=0
======
RandomOpinion
I think part of the article that's getting glossed over is:

" _A refrigerated egg, no matter the source, will be good for four or five
weeks. Unrefrigerated eggs are best used within a week, though they may be
fine for two._ "

So, one would want to refrigerate eggs (washed or unwashed) anyway if they're
not all going to be used immediately.

~~~
LordWinstanley
I live in UK and never keep eggs the fridge. They easily keep for a couple of
weeks or more. So I think the "use within a week" advice is over-cautious.

Handy tip, if you want to know if an egg's good* or not, without breaking it:
pop it in a tall glass of cold water. If it sinks, it's fine. If it floats
it's gone off.

[*'good' as in 'still fresh'. Unfortunately it won't tell you if it's full of
salmonella, or not!]

~~~
desdiv
Isn't this covered in the article?

>In Europe and Britain, the opposite is true. European Union regulations
prohibit the washing of eggs. The idea is that preserving the protective
cuticle is more important than washing the gunk off.

UK eggs are unwashed, thus still have their protective cuticles and thus can
last much longer unrefrigerated. GP's quote only applies to American eggs,
which are washed.

~~~
roryisok
I live in Ireland, in the EU, and I'm fairly sure all the eggs in supermarkets
here are washed. There's never a spot of dirt on them. And we always
refrigerate, as does everyone I know

~~~
paganel
I live in Romania, another EU country, and the eggs from the super-market are
definitely not washed. They're also always refrigerated.

~~~
Reason077
Interesting. I don't think I've ever seen a UK supermarket put eggs in a
refrigerated section. They're always sold from a standard shelf.

------
martin-adams
Not explicitly mentioned, but is linked from the article:

 _In Europe, the understanding is that this mandate actually encourages good
husbandry on farms. It’s in the farmers’ best interests then to produce to
cleanest eggs possible, as no one is going to buy their eggs if they’re dirty_
[1]

So in Europe, you need a clean environment as you're not allowed to wash the
eggs. I find this equally compelling than not wanting to wash the protective
cuticle off that protects against bacteria.

[1] [http://www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2012/10/25/why-
ame...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2012/10/25/why-american-
eggs-would-be-illegal-in-a-british-supermarket-and-vice-versa/#58478d01a53e)

~~~
DanBC
It doesn't seem to be working in the UK. Over half of all the fresh chicken
sold is contaminated with campylobacter.

~~~
Drumlin
Presumably chickens that are bred for meat live a different existence to those
reared for eggs?

------
INTPenis
I'm a swede and I had no idea, I've refrigerated eggs as long as I can
remember. My parents are from Croatia though so it's kind of weird that I
picked up this habit. My relatives in Croatia do not refrigerate eggs.

Most swedes that I can think of refrigerate their eggs straight from the
store. The recommendation is printed on the box to refrigerate.

Now that I've read this article it suddenly makes sense why I've sometimes
seen dirt (maybe poo?) and feathers on store bought eggs.

~~~
tomca32
Hmm..weird. I'm from Croatia and I would be surprised to see people not
refrigerate eggs. We (me and my family) always refrigerated them. Every fridge
I've seen has egg holders that we would fill up.

Pretty sure that most people I know refrigerate eggs, but then again, I never
really paid attention to that.

~~~
INTPenis
Well my relatives are from the country, they have their own chickens. But
yeah, like you say, even in Croatia most refrigerators are sold with egg
holders.

~~~
csydas
Im a us expat living in Russia; eggs are sold nkn refrigerated but virtually
everyone's home I've been to stores eggs in the refrigerator. The only time I
haven't seen it was rural houses. I've known about this factoid for some time
after reading an article om NPR about it, and I guess I always just assumed it
was cultural assimilation happening. That is, we see people in US tv and
movies do it, so we do it. I didn't know there was a difference in preparation
prior to the article and most don't seem to either. So instead we just do what
everyone else does.

------
Jgrubb
My wife bought our chickens mainly on how pretty the basket of eggs would be
on the counter. This is this weeks haul that we didn't eat -
[https://imgur.com/a/T9x4K](https://imgur.com/a/T9x4K).

If you have the room, I highly recommend them as pets. They're quite cool and
very low maintenance, and they make the best eggs you've ever had.

~~~
pavel_lishin
My parents considered it, but heard that they attract snakes.

Also, what do you do with the eggs you don't eat?

~~~
msisk6
We have about 25 chickens right now and we just picked up another 18 chicks
today. Our's free range on our land and they're fantastic at keeping bugs
down.

We've had some problems with snakes, but we're in the country outside Austin,
TX and snakes are just a way of life out here. We even had to remove a
rattlesnake from inside the house a few weeks back. Skunks are a big problem
this year -- lots of them out and about.

We give and sell fresh eggs to everyone we know. I routinely take them into
work and sell them for $5 a dozen. We've had to explain the whole not washing
or refrigerating them to most people but after they've had fresh eggs they
always want more.

~~~
dfc
You can buy free range organic eggs at Whole Foods for less than $5 a dozen.

~~~
erikpukinskis
You can't buy pastured eggs for less than $7 a dozen generally. The eggs you
are referring to are still from chickens who are stuck more or less indoors at
all times, and don't get to engage in "chicken-y" behaviors. "Free range" in
this case often means there is access to an outdoor patch, but there's no real
reason for the chickens to go there, and the are so depressed that they hardly
want to move anyway.

As such their yolks will tend to be yellow instead of orange or nearly red, as
true pastured chicken eggs yolks will be.

~~~
dfc
No the eggs I am referring to are from "pastured" chickens. I have seen them
go for $5 at a Whole Foods in Northern Virginia as well as the local coop
around the corner from me in Syracuse, NY.

~~~
erikpukinskis
Right. I'm just saying "free range" doesn't mean much. You can get pastured
eggs for $5 if you buy direct yes.

------
M_Grey
The thing is, salmonella _is_ most prevalent on the outside of the shell, and
that cleaning does save some lives (and misery). Meanwhile you can let your
egg come to room temp if you prefer, before use. Finally, if you really want
fresh eggs, you can raise them or hook up with a local farmer. Even in a big
city, you can raise chickens for eggs.

~~~
Havoc
>that cleaning does save some lives (and misery).

Does it? I'd imagine if it really did the Europeans would switch to the
refrigerated approach asap.

~~~
M_Grey
Europe has traditionally (as a whole) been a lot laxer with regulations. The
upside is that they avoid a lot of red tape. The downside is... Thalidomide.

~~~
Havoc
>Europe has traditionally (as a whole) been a lot laxer with regulations.

Quite the opposite. I mean they even tried to regulate how bent bananas could
be. Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2257/94

~~~
M_Grey
Bullshit.

 _Bananas have always been classified by quality and size for international
trade. Because the standards, set by individual governments and the industry,
were confusing, the European Commission was asked to draw up new rules._

 _Commission regulation 2257 /94 decreed that bananas in general should be
“free from malformation or abnormal curvature”. Those sold as “extra class”
must be perfect, “class 1” can have “slight defects of shape” and “class 2”
can have full-scale “defects of shape”._

 _Nothing is banned under the regulation, which sets grading rules requested
by industry to make sure importers – including UK wholesalers and supermarkets
– know exactly what they will be getting when they order a box of bananas._

Leave that Brexiteer crap at the door please.

------
URSpider94
A friend with chickens sent me this article a long time ago:
[http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/how-to-store-
fresh-...](http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/how-to-store-fresh-eggs-
zmaz77ndzgoe)

Summary: unwashed eggs are edible for up to eight weeks on the counter, and
can go much longer than that if refrigerated. Washed eggs go bad more quickly,
but should still be ok for a couple of months. The hard part is, you really
have no way to know how long it's been since a store-bought egg was laid.

------
polimux
I (Europe/Germany) put them in the fridge because the fridge came with an egg
tray. Simple as that, never thought about leaving them outside. Maybe that's a
simple answer to why many people put them in the fridge, independent of 'how
long they will stay good'.

~~~
ralfd
Everyone I know in Germany puts them in the fridge. Though I just realized,
that the supermarkets/stores sell the eggs uncooled.

~~~
Broken_Hippo
Same in Norway, except the supermarkets sell the eggs cooled as well.

------
nemetroid
In Swedish egg farms, if salmonella is discovered (in a mandatory screening),
the entire flock must be killed off. This provides a good incentive to avoid
salmonella outbreaks. The state reimburses up to 50% of the costs incurred (up
to 70% if the farm is part of the additional voluntary salmonella screening
program).

------
balabaster
As someone who raises chickens for eggs on our hobby farm and have done much
research surrounding this, having been raised in the U.K. and now living in
Canada I have the following info:

In North America, I cannot speak to the quality of the conditions in which the
eggs are laid, but they are washed. The Health Department requires that washed
eggs be refrigerated due to the removal of the cuticle or "bloom". In the
supermarket, eggs are refrigerated accordingly and they should be refrigerated
at home too.

In the U.K. the eggs don't undergo any process that removes the cuticle and
thus they're not refrigerated in the supermarket and thus don't need to be
refrigerated at home.

When I pick the eggs from our free as in "can come and go as they please"
chickens in the morning, some of the eggs I have been stepped all over by
careless chickens with dirty feet and thus I like to wash those eggs and they
can either then be dipped in mineral oil to mitigate the need for immediate
refrigeration or as I frequently do, I put them in the fridge after I wash
them. If the eggs are clean, I don't wash them and leave them on the counter
where I treat them as good for 2-3 weeks without a second thought. Of course,
if I were selling these eggs, which sometimes I do, it's usually less of a
ball ache my explaining why they don't need refrigeration than it is just to
wash them and tell people just to keep them in the fridge as normal - unless
they want the whole "farm fresh organic treated like wild chickens"
experience, in which case I tell them to keep them on the counter in a little
wicker hay lined basket for that farmhouse vibe... and eat them up within a
week... because that way they'll buy more.

------
mastazi
Please excuse me if my question is dumb, I've never been to the US so I might
just be uninformed...

I've noticed in movies and shows that eggs in the US usually have a white
shell, whereas in other countries (at least the ones I have lived in, i.e.
Europe, SE Asia and Australia) they are usually of a colour that I would
describe as beige/light-brown. is that because of the washing process
described in the article, or is it just because of the hen's breed?

~~~
fspm
Egg color is actually a genetic characteristic. The most common layer of white
eggs is the Leghorn Chicken, which is pretty common in American factory
farming.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leghorn_chicken](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leghorn_chicken)
I think a big aspect is just that there is a cultural expectation of eggs
being white in the US. 'Free range' and Organic brands often choose chickens
that lay brown eggs though, as a way to distinguish their product and appear
more 'natural'.

 _edit:_ auto correct.

~~~
misev
It's opposite in Europe, eggs are typically brown, while the white ones are
considered more 'natural'.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
If I, being from the UK, see white eggs I assume they're duck eggs. I
certainly wouldn't consider white eggs, of any kind, to be more natural
though.

~~~
justincormack
When I was a kid in the UK eggs were generally white, but brown became more
fashionable at some point (more wholesome like brown bread?).

------
yourapostasy
If this interested you, then you might also be interested in water glass, or
sodium silicate [1]. It is still used today by some sailboat crews to keep
fresh eggs on board without refrigeration for up to five months, without
resorting to powdered eggs.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate#Food_preservat...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate#Food_preservation)

------
ljoshua
Ah ha! I had always wondered why we'd buy a crate of 24 eggs at Carrefour in
France when I lived there for two years, just off the grocery floor. I didn't
feel bad not refrigerating them there, but of course must do so again now.
Satisfying answer.

~~~
paglia_s
I live in Italy and most supermarkets only have refrigerated eggs with
Carrefour being the notable exception and I found it weird when I first saw
eggs outside the refrigerator

------
brokenmasonjars
Whenever I buy eggs from the store I refrigerate them. My chickens and ducks
however I don't bother with. Eggs don't last long around my house, have a few
labradors who I feed a home cooked diet in which eggs are a daily item.

I think the washing/not washing discussion is interesting. It really
highlights a difference in food approaches between the US and EU. One of the
things that really annoys me about the US is the raw milk stuff. I live in PA
so I can get raw milk pretty easily; live a mile from a raw milk farm that's
been in business since 1840 or something. This farm has a good track record,
some others don't. I remember in Mike Pollan's Netflix's documentary series
the part about the cheese nun and the FDA. The FDA individual simply stated
that in France the practices are much more rigorous than the US. Why can't we
develop a system that allows raw milk from farmers who follow similar
procedures? Why can I still not buy raw milk cheese under so many days old
directly from France? The ban probably angers me more than anything since I'm
really big into cheese and raw milk cheese from France tastes better than
pasteurized stuff. Raw milk itself I'm content with since I get it from the
farm nearby. It's what I grew up on, whenever I have milk from other sources
the differences are night and day. The differences in food approaches is
interesting.. and really shows how far the US has gone off track. Not to
mention the damn ban on tonka beans.

------
CM30
Wait, this is seen as an American thing?

Because I'm from the UK, and most people I know here store boxes of eggs in
the fridge. That's how we've done it for decades, and that seems to be the
'norm' where I live. Certainly never seen any eggs laid out in a bowl on a
table or worktop.

Maybe it's a regional thing here?

Edit: Just checked online a bit. Seems like it's a matter of individual
opinion here, based on this Guardian thread:

[https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-26...](https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-26086,00.html)

The Daily Mail run a 'study' about it:

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2421530/So-eggs-
frid...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2421530/So-eggs-fridge-
Scientists-crack-age-old-argument-chilled-room-temperature-best.html)

And there's a Yahoo News UK article saying not to:

[https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/never-put-eggs-in-the-
frid...](https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/never-put-eggs-in-the-fridge--
a-dozen-food-myths-that-could-cost-you.html)

Certainly doesn't seem like a unanimous difference between countries.

~~~
stordoff
They may be kept in the fridge at home, but I don't recall ever seeing them
refrigerated in a shop

~~~
macca321
What an individual does in their own home is their own business, no matter how
depraved.

------
the_mitsuhiko
While the rules on eggs are the same the culture is not. In Austria most
stores sell eggs refrigerated where as in the UK they so not.

~~~
tiefenb
mhm, only Hofer doesn't chill them. And sometimes Spar with eggs from local
farmers.

------
pmontra
Italy here and I've always refrigerated eggs. I didn't even think about it:
fresh food goes into the fridge bu default.

~~~
tonfa
But they are not sold refrigerated, right? In the US they would.

~~~
dsqrt
They are usually sold refrigerated in Italy

~~~
pmontra
Not where I buy them (COOP).

------
drakonka
I live in Sweden and we've kept our eggs unrefrigerated in our home. However,
we recently sponsored a chicken and now get to buy more ethically obtained (in
my opinion) eggs from a small local farm in batches that might last a month or
so. The farm owner recommended that we refrigerate the eggs, I suspect because
we are not using them as quickly as you would otherwise go through a carton of
eggs from the supermarket. I'm also not sure what period of time the eggs are
collected over, so they could very well already be a week old by the time we
receive them. So now we refrigerate to be safe.

------
DanBC
There's a similar thread (for a different article) with 78 comments here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8029882](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8029882)

------
aplomb
Raised chickens for some time. Noticed my eggs would "sweat" when I'd take
them out of the refrigerator vs store bought which do nothing at all; after a
time at room temperature they'd reabsorb. I'd imagine that's pretty dangerous
if you're running a cesspool operation - pulling in liquid contaminated by
whatever is on the shell.

~~~
PostOnce
Are you sure you're not describing condensation and evaporation, rather than
sweating and absorption?

~~~
aplomb
Would take much longer for condensation to evaporate at room temperature

------
BrandoElFollito
French here : eggs are usually sold refrigerated (Leclerc, Auchan - but not my
SuperU for instance) and I keep them in the fridge, like everyone I know (and
have seen manipulating eggs)

------
microcolonel
Interesting; explains why my Chinese friend has a habit of leaving the eggs
out on the counter after taking them out of the fridge. Thought she was just
absent-minded.

Seems like it would be fine for them to blow them off with air, and irradiate
them. Then if there's some crap stuck to them you at least won't be getting
salmonella.

~~~
pmoriarty
Chicken feces can be infected with salmonella. So if that gets in to your
food...

~~~
microcolonel
That's why I said _irradiate them_ , please read comments before getting so up
in arms.

------
amelius
A related question is: how do you optimally store _boiled_ eggs? (And how long
can you keep them?)

------
tiefenb
In Austria (AUSTRIA -> EUROPE, NOT AUSTRALIA ;-] ) most of the eggs are
chilled and people chill them also. I see very rarely some eggs not in the
supermarket fridge and asked myself at this moment: how they prevent the eggs
from decay

~~~
Traubenfuchs
I have never seen anyone NOT put them in the fridge. The same goes for my time
in France and England. This article is "America vs the rest of the world"
clickbait. At least the headline is clickbait. The part about washing and the
"protective cuticle" was interesting.

~~~
RugnirViking
Living in the UK here. Never heard of such a crazy idea as putting bread/eggs
in the fridge. I don't entirely think this discussion is without merit

------
albertgao
I live in China. Shouldn't keep the eggs in the refrigerator a common
sense?......

~~~
jwong_
In my city eggs are sold unrefrigerated in a bag or in a huge pile for you to
pick from. This is in a grocery store. The wet markets sell them similarly,
though I have been to them a lot less.

------
aaron695
I refrigerate my eggs because I keep them for months sometimes before eating.

------
glibgil
I refrigerate everything. Cold makes everything last longer

------
Fej
SciShow did a great little video on this.

[https://youtu.be/LJwO5SdGcLk](https://youtu.be/LJwO5SdGcLk)

------
ivanhoe
This differs between Europe countries, in ex-Yugoslavia (Serbia, Croatia,
etc.) eggs are not washed, but we also usually keep them refrigerated.

------
gremlinsinc
america here, we used to own chickens -- the rule my wife told me is if it's
fresh--it can sit for 1-2 months without putting in fridge, if it's store
bought it must be refrigerated because of the cuticle. -- Though not sure on
store-bought but un-washed eggs, since there's obviously handling and
processing between farm and home it could obviously shorten the life span.

------
Houshalter
Would it be possible to sterilize the eggs without destroying the cuticle?
Like with heat, radiation, or ultraviolet light?

~~~
21
Unless after sterilization you would also seal them in plastic or something,
they will become "non-sterile" again.

Pasteurized milk is sealed.

~~~
nraynaud
you might just want to kill one strain of bacterium that live in the soil and
around hens, not actual complete sterilization.

------
johnsmith21006
Same reason as the peanut butter jar because far easier to find. But did have
to explain to wife when we married.

~~~
pasbesoin
If you have "natural" peanut butter (ground peanuts and a bit of salt),
refrigerating after stirring the separated oil back in helps to keep it from
separating out, again.

It also makes it a bit less "oozy" when spreading it on bread. For those of
use who like a thicker helping of PB with our J, another plus. :-)

------
placebo
in Israel every egg carton has a stamp stating an expiry date if refrigerated
and an expiry date if not.

------
pvaldes
Probably because rats, racoons, opposums, dogs, skunks, snakes, etc love to
trace and steal eggs.

------
teilo
We get our eggs from local farmers who raise chickens in old fashioned coops.
In addition to tasting much richer without having to pay for "organic" eggs
(because they get to run around and eat bugs), they keep longer as well. We
don't bother refrigerating them either.

------
ycmbntrthrwaway
The article should be titled "Why Do Americans Wash Their Eggs?"

~~~
kalleboo
Other countries that wash their eggs include Australia, Sweden and Japan

~~~
empressplay
... but up until recently, Australia did _not_ refrigerate the eggs in grocery
stores! (yuk!)

------
32h8
Scishow already covered it

------
adultSwim
Why are so many headlines needlessly in the form of a question?

------
Yuioup
Because it gets 100+ degrees in the summer?

~~~
jonknee
Ironically, not in the US because we also love air conditioning.

~~~
fnj
Nice generalization. I've never had AC and almost nobody I know has AC. It's
not unusual to reach 90F (32C) in the kitchen and other rooms in summer.

~~~
jonknee
About 90% of US homes have AC, you're very much outside of the norm.

------
dbg31415
Food goes in the fridge.

A place for everything, and everything in its place.

Keeps your life uncluttered and tidy.

------
Kenji
I love how, once again, the states are clueless, forcing companies to wash the
eggs on one continent, and forcing them not to on the other continent. Another
useless law, hampering the production of vital goods.

~~~
TenOhms
What do you base that observation on? The article doesn't address whether
washing + refrigeration is safer than leaving the membrane in-tact and not
refrigerating. In fact, it hints at the exact opposite, saying Japan adopted
the US method after a major salmonella outbreak. Who's right, or more
importantly, does this even matter?

~~~
mikekchar
I did not read the article as I got fed up with playing the "chase the close
box in this overlay" game. However, most egg vendors in Japan neither wash,
nor refrigerate eggs. The main exception I can think of are the eggs at the
convenience store. In my town, they even have vending machines for eggs that
the local farmer fills up every 2 or 3 days. They are unrefrigerated and the
eggs sit happily there are 35 degrees C in the summer.

