washig chicken eggs?

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I recall that washing eggs removes a patina, or whatever, and reduces the length of time they can be stored. My wife looks at the dirt and clinging chickens--- and says "what a good way to get salmonella, its on your hands now, its in the carton...whoops what good does it do you to wash them now and put them back in that same carton." I hate it when I don't have a good answer for her!

-- Sand Mueller (smueller@brightok.net), December 04, 1999

Answers

You are correct, as I understand it, that washing the "bloom" off an egg will shorten the time it will stay fresh. However, your wife has a point in that storing eggs in chicken feces is not a very good practice either.

We used to wash off the ones which were badly soiled, and not clean the ones that looked clean. Wash them all off before cracking them, and cook them thoroughly. All this salmonella business didn't start on the farms. People got it in restaurants and from meat from the supermarkets.

Even if you wash your eggs, they will keep for a long time. You are getting them probably several weeks sooner than eggs at the store. If they are fertile eggs, I understand that extends their life somewhat, and I have been told that it reduces their cholesterol content.

best wishes,

Gene

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), December 04, 1999.


What a crock of crap....concerning washing eggs! It is my understanding ( please, anyone, correct me with the correct regulation number) .....that the fed regulations permit packaging eggs with a FRESH label for 40 (THATS FORTY) weeks after they are laid by the chickens. can you believe it!! I, myself, guarantee that our eggs are laid within 7 days of date of purchase...otherwise I give them to the dogs. There is a clear coating that is on eggs after they are laid. This probably keeps them from spoiling for a time. As I recall, it has only been since the late 60's since commercial people have "refrigerated" their eggs. Perhaps before that time, they actually bought eggs from local people...instead of buying eggs MONTHS and MONTHS old from the factory farms. I sell eggs for $1.00 per dozen and my customers are crazy about the quality; I generally have a waiting list. It is because we let out chickens out every day so they can eat grass, alfalfa, oats, dandelions, weeds of all sorts, etc. etc. Of course, if prices of grain/feed goes up, we will probably have to go up to $1.50 per dozen or even MORE. But hay....Decker says that the free market will cure all these problems.

-- jeanne (jeanne@hurry.now), December 04, 1999.

"Don't wash hens' eggs," was indeed the admonition for the reason stated. I cannot cite EVIDENCE one way or the other. But I do know from raising some broilers 45 years ago that tetracycline was included as a "vitamin" in chicken feed. Now, when I went to medical school some 35 years ago, I learned that tetracycline was an antibiotic good for treating almost everything that multiplied without crawling. I believe we no have a big salmonella problem because of the overuse of tetracycline. At this point, infections are seldom treatable with tetracycline (effective in some, but relatively fe

-- Doctor Jim (doctorjim20852@yahoo.com), December 05, 1999.

We always "washed" the eggs straight from the chickens with old fashioned cider vinegar and THEN put em away..but I guess you can't do that with store bought ones. But nobody says you have to keep the eggs in the carton they came in either..just pile em up in a bowl or something.

-- sugarpie (sugarpie@sugarpie.com), December 05, 1999.

Just take a large nail file (like the ones that nail techs use to file the fake nails) and knock off the stuff that shouldn't be there, and buff off the little specks that remains. That's right - about you shouldn't wash them, they don't keep as long.

PS. Keep the nest boxes clean, with clean straw in them, and this problem will be minimized.

-- (formerly nobody@nowhere.zzz), December 06, 1999.



My great grandmother used to wash the eggs, and then replace the bloom with a thin coat of petroleum jelly (Vaseline). It seemed like they kept forever.

-- yerfdog (yerfdog@qwestinternet.net), December 09, 1999.

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