Farm Fresh Eggs: To Refrigerate or Not to Refrigerate?

An often discussed and disputed aspect of chicken raising is whether or not to refrigerate your farm fresh eggs. So, as noted from my previous article  Farm Fresh Eggs: Wash or Unwashed we note that in the United States the USDA requires that eggs are washed, sanitized and re-sealed prior to entering the food market, contrarily eggs are required to be unwashed and in their natural state to enter the food market in many European countries. So if your buying your eggs from a grocery store in the Unites States, I might as well let you know that you may want to just bypass this article right here and right now, as this simply doesn't apply to your washed, sanitized and re-sealed eggs. However, education is a powerful thing so I suggest you read on. The USDA adherent eggs must be refrigerated to remain safe. 

The reason the United States insists that eggs are washed, sanitized and re-sealed, further still, refrigerated has to do with poultry farm standards. Let me give you a visual concept.

Here is a poultry egg farm adhering to the USDA guidelines.

Yikes those poor birds. So tightly packed in, no free ranging, just sitting there to lay. I don't see how this can frankly be healthy, nor entice me into heading to the grocer to purchase a dozen of eggs.v 

                        

      Here are some of my own chickens out on the front lawn free ranging

The USDA does not require that these hens in the poultry houses are vaccinated for salmonella, which is pretty disturbing considering they are packed like sardines in the perfect breeding environment for salmonella contamination. Britain has standardized practice that all chickens are to be vaccinated for Salmonella. They are virtually wiping out the health risks, funny same place that requires eggs be untreated, bloom in tact, no refrigeration necessary AND they require commonsense  vaccination. Are you catching a theme here, or is it just me?

So the USDA has come out and essentially said that they do not believe vaccinating the chickens for salmonella would alleviate the risk of contamination. Without the USDA requiring the vaccination, which would cost the egg producer less than a penny for every dozen eggs, there is essentially no incentive to vaccinate, as they are clearly are concerned with profit and not human safety, as sad as it is to say.

I find it disturbing that because of the unsanitary, overcrowded living conditions rampant in the large farming industry based for mass production, 80% of all antibiotics produced go to the farming industry. Something just seems completely illogical in all of this to me. I guess we have choices, move to Britain or start holding our own government monitoring system responsible for this clearly illogical thinking. I vote we start letter writing right now.

Whew! OK so back to to our farm fresh daily eggs and to refrigerate or not. It is actually far less complicated than the politics of the food industry and I assure you,  it is politics.

The eggs we are discussing here are farm fresh eggs that are fresh from the nesting box out of your own back yard. If you purchase your eggs from a local farmer, understand that they as well have to adhere to the USDA specifications for entering the market and unfortunately their eggs have most likely undergone the wash, sanitize, resealed process.  If in question, ask your egg supplier. If you are from a European country which offers farm fresh eggs unwashed and shelved, read on!

Eggshells are porous, there are roughly 7500 openings per egg, so lots of little cuticles taunting it's environment to come and invade. They are essentially open to easy entrance of contaminants, be they bacteria, odors, or tastes bouncing around their environment. However an unwashed farm fresh egg invokes the beauty of nature as upon exit of the hen producing it, a protective layer called the bloom is sealed about the egg, keeping contaminates at bay.

We look over to the European standards for the most efficient answer on storage of farm fresh eggs as their eggs are just that. They have said that to bring an egg from cold storage to room temperature could lead to condensation, which can promote bacterial growth. So the standard is for eggs to be consistently stored at room temperature. They further state that eggs should be transported and stored at a consistent temperature. In the cold months  temperature ranging between 66.2 °F and 69.8°F and in the warmer weather between 69.8 °F and 73.4 °F

So with your eggs out on the counter at room temperature you have between 7-10 days for use then for further longevity, pop them in the fridge. A refrigerated eggs standard of safety is between 30-45 days. I personally have heard backyard farmers who claim to have cold stored them and refrigerated them for much longer.For safety sake, I am comfortable with the 7-10 countertop and 30-45 days refrigeration. 

So farm fresh eggs,... refrigerate or not? I say for the first 10 days, not. After that refrigerate away in my opinion.

As a side bar, for those fertilized farm fresh eggs, left in the coop,...