Would you wash your chicken eggs?

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velochic

Sous Chef
Joined
Sep 2, 2004
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I'm assured I don't need to, but since moving here, I always wash these chicken eggs. They are not refrigerated (the only reason for chilling eggs is if they have already gone bad, locals tell me) and usually still have the feathers and (can I say this here... ) poop attached. Everything is VERY organic, very WHOLE food (of which I very much approve), but I thought this was a little extreme. So what if I have a broken egg here and there I have to toss out... wouldn't you wash your eggs too?
:D

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Funny old place Europe......the EEC rules European Economic Community) I would say preclude the selling of eggs with poop. I live in England, but it it's fairly well known that we are the only country in Europe that tends to follow the rules.

My local free range egg producer now has to stamp the date on all her eggs, which I think is a shame, and has to wash them as well. You get the odd feather in the carton still but no poop.

I don't refrigerate my eggs, they cook a lot better at room temperature, especially for meringues and such where you need much air incoporated in them.

I am quite happy to have chicken dirt on my eggs, but it's becoming very rare!
 
I wash mine. I get them from our chicken lady (insert own joke here) and they are covered in poop too. My thought is, if I wash em, I am less likely to have anything accidentally drop into my omelette. Also, would you want to eat a boiled egg that was cooked in poo water? Not me. Personal preference though.
 
I tend not to boil my eggs, but if I was going to, I'd wash em first definetly. I am talking about trace poop rather than covered in poop!!! What a conversation!!!!!1
 
LOL Kyles! Mine are definitely more than "trace poop". We are talking fresh from the nest.
 
Don't have that problem in the States. Everything comes shrink-wrapped here, or sanitized to death. We are one of the most germ-phobic cultures out there. A little dirt is good for the soul...............(but I would rinse my eggs if they came with, well...you know)
 
Mudbug, I have a little saying about dirt... God made dirt so dirt don't hurt. Anyway, when my grandma raised chickens she wouldn't wash her eggs until she got ready to use them.
 
I don't wash mine when I buy them from the grocery store. BUt I live in farm land, and when I can get them from freinds and neighbors, I always give them a quick rinse. I also give any veggies I'm giving away a quick rinse before handing them off to friends. It is really funny sometimes to think what the younger generation must be like. A few months ago I opened a dozen eggs at the store, and wiggled them each before putting the carton in my cart. A young woman asked me why I did that, that she'd seen so many older women (good lord, guess I'm old now) do it. I laughed and told her that you can tell if an egg is cracked that way -- it will stick to the carton if it is cracked. We live in a largely rural, farming area with a HUGE tourist industry, so it was quite funny.
 
I get my family's eggs from an organic egg farmer and quite often there's poop on the shells. I rinse them off with cool water and pat dry before I crack them, just in case, like others of you have said, some of the shell would happen to fall into the egg. Better safe than sorry, I guess!
 
I would wash more than your eggs...

I would personally wash the eggs, especially if buying them from a non traditional source. In our local papers about a month or so ago they were advising us to wash all our fruit also. I am not refering to the usual grapes, apples, peaches...etc I am refering to all types melons. The reason they were giving was where some of the product is being imported from actually rinse the fruit with there water. I guess the problem is it has in the past caused some breakouts of food poisoning, because of high bacteria and ecoli. :shock:
 
Get my eggs from the young lad next door who keeps a few chickens. He washes the eggs before he sells them on, bless him, and they're excellent too.
 
According to the egg-sperts, egg go bad 7 times faster if unrefrigerated. That is, if it will last two weeks in the fridge, it's only good for two days on the counter.

I'd want to clean off the shells before I cracked the shells so I wouldn't accidentally get "stuff" in my food along with the egg.
 
I am a little surprised that no one has responded with what I thought was conventional wisdom regarding egg cleaning. I was always taught that you do not wash eggs, wash like scrubb with soap and water. Eggs have a bloom that protects the porous aspect of the egg shell. If you wash the bloom off, you wash off the protective covering, allowing any germs to penetrate the porous egg shell. It is acceptable to wash the egg just prior to use. But what is also common is to take a damp paper towel to remove poop from the egg shells before refrigerating. And I do vote for refrigerating eggs, and not in those egg holders in the frig door because it is too warm there. I store mine in a vegetable bin or on a shelf. I also store the individual eggs large end up, in the carton, that also prolongs the keeping quality of the eggs.
 
EASY STOMACH, EASY.......I WAS eating before I started reading this ummmmmm very interesting conversation.
 
My cousin washes them right before use.
In case she drops an egg shell or something...
Especially if she's separating the eggs.

If the outside of the egg shell might touch the inside, then I'd definately wash them.
 

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