Egg storage

[connda]

Why are eggs in the US refrigerated but eggs in Thailand are not?

[stoneyboy]

Probably for the same reason as why the old lady swings a bag on a stick about to deter the flys on the meat stall.

Edited October 30, 2013 by stoneyboy

[h90]

eggs can stay a long time without cooling.

No questions the bacterias get more but like 20-30 years ago they stored it warm in Europe as well.

It is like: why you drive a car with power enhanced brakes, ABS and Airbag.

It works without, but still better to have it.

[trainman34014]

I buy mine at a shop that gets fresh deliveries from a farm daily and put them right in the fridge where they will last up to a month without problems. Eggs will last a long time so no worries.

[Thongkorn]

depends if they are from chickens, could be from snakes or turtles.

[crumpled]

No shops in the UK refrigerate eggs. There is no reason to. I see no reason to do so in Thailand either. It's not as if they are going to hatch if outside of a refrigerator.

[HeijoshinCool]

Americans are raised by their government to be paranoid.

Only problem with room temp eggs, is the yolks break easier when you crack'm into a pan.

[kikoman]

We have chickens and sell eggs, the Thai's that purchase our eggs only buy eggs that have not been refrigerated, I prefer eggs refrigerated as I have been conditioned to such in the states, my early years in Mexico we also did not refrigerate eggs.

We also have ducks, the eggs that failed to hatch after the duck sat on them full term, are a delicacy to the older Thai's in the village, they simply boil them and eat them, my FIL never has had any adverse reaction to eating those eggs, nothing edible is wasted in Thailand!

[crumpled]

Cadburys Creme eggs are great from the fridge. Harder to lick out. From the freezer they can be a tooth breaker. Brought to mind by Cadburys Screme eggs on sale for Halloween. Whoooooo!!!!

edit cannot spell fridge first time round.

Edited October 30, 2013 by crumpled

[JAS21]

I put them in all those little holes in the top shelf of the fridge door ... else I wouldn't know what to use those hole for.

[h90]

I buy mine at a shop that gets fresh deliveries from a farm daily and put them right in the fridge where they will last up to a month without problems. Eggs will last a long time so no worries.

And there is no risk that you eat a broken egg....You'll know it is broken.

Salmonella might be an issue, but only if you eat the egg raw.

[h90]

Americans are raised by their government to be paranoid.

Only problem with room temp eggs, is the yolks break easier when you crack'm into a pan.

I am sure there is already a law that farmers need a cooled storage......Both in Europe and USA laws are made often to kill the small farmer and favor the big factory like food production.

Animal feed is worst of it.

[meatboy]

i used to help out in a 5star inn and restaurant in the evenings and if the chef came and found that the morning shift had not put the eggs back in the cold room he would bin them.when you see eggs out in the blazing sun that cant be ok.we are lucky we get fresh eggs that are laid daily.next time you buy a tray of eggs from an outside market do the test in a pan of water.

[h90]

i used to help out in a 5star inn and restaurant in the evenings and if the chef came and found that the morning shift had not put the eggs back in the cold room he would bin them.when you see eggs out in the blazing sun that cant be ok.we are lucky we get fresh eggs that are laid daily.next time you buy a tray of eggs from an outside market do the test in a pan of water.

I saw on the market when they sprayed the flys dead that were sitting on the meat. So they sprayed the meat....So don't expect anything from the local markets unless you know the shop.

Even in Europe, many of the farmer eggs are bought in the supermarket and resold on the market :-(

[nzvic]

Eggs are never refrigerated in NZ shops/supermarkets, but I like to keep them in the fridge as slower deterioration. Use-by date is about a mth, but shorter in Bangkok I notice to allow for heat. Must be really hard for hot country retailers as stuff spoils quicker than in colder climates.

Wd love to live in Bangkok fulltime but too hot - 15approx. degrees most morning here at present with sunny days.

[noikrit]

I put them in all those little holes in the top shelf of the fridge door ... else I wouldn't know what to use those hole for.

Also very good for chilling shot glasses

[HeijoshinCool]

Eggs are never refrigerated in NZ shops/supermarkets, but I like to keep them in the fridge as slower deterioration. Use-by date is about a mth, but shorter in Bangkok I notice to allow for heat. Must be really hard for hot country retailers as stuff spoils quicker than in colder climates.

Wd love to live in Bangkok fulltime but too hot - 15approx. degrees most morning here at present with sunny days.

Actually, maybe not.

Egg shells are permeable. The membrane lining the inside of them, not so much so. If you refrigerate, problem is low humidity. This accelerates deterioration of the lining, pulling it away from the shell. Leaving in a warm room at 90% humidity, could well preserve them longer.

The Brit supermarkets have it over the Yanks here, their food national food guidelines require not washing their eggs. Washing removes protection. More USA germaphobia.

Having said that, I'd never buy from Somchai here. Never know where he got them, or when.

[Forethat]

Eggs are never refrigerated in NZ shops/supermarkets, but I like to keep them in the fridge as slower deterioration. Use-by date is about a mth, but shorter in Bangkok I notice to allow for heat. Must be really hard for hot country retailers as stuff spoils quicker than in colder climates.

Wd love to live in Bangkok fulltime but too hot - 15approx. degrees most morning here at present with sunny days.

Actually, maybe not.

Egg shells are permeable. The membrane lining the inside of them, not so much so. If you refrigerate, problem is low humidity. This accelerates deterioration of the lining, pulling it away from the shell. Leaving in a warm room at 90% humidity, could well preserve them longer.

The Brit supermarkets have it over the Yanks here, their food national food guidelines require not washing their eggs. Washing removes protection. More USA germaphobia.

Having said that, I'd never buy from Somchai here. Never know where he got them, or when.

Actually, you're wrong.

Plenty of research available.

According to a study by Paul P Sharp at the Department of Dairy Industry, eggs deteriorate rather quickly in temperatures over 20 degrees centigrade. To preserve the egg really long, it should be stored at below 2 degrees centigrade.

I have institutional online access to papers like this, but unfortunately I can't download.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1937.tb17821.x/pdf

So, in short, eggs go bad quicker if stored outside the fridge. Science never lies. Sorry.

[MaprangHolmes]

Eggs are never refrigerated in NZ shops/supermarkets, but I like to keep them in the fridge as slower deterioration. Use-by date is about a mth, but shorter in Bangkok I notice to allow for heat. Must be really hard for hot country retailers as stuff spoils quicker than in colder climates.

Wd love to live in Bangkok fulltime but too hot - 15approx. degrees most morning here at present with sunny days.

Actually, maybe not.

Egg shells are permeable. The membrane lining the inside of them, not so much so. If you refrigerate, problem is low humidity. This accelerates deterioration of the lining, pulling it away from the shell. Leaving in a warm room at 90% humidity, could well preserve them longer.

The Brit supermarkets have it over the Yanks here, their food national food guidelines require not washing their eggs. Washing removes protection. More USA germaphobia.

Having said that, I'd never buy from Somchai here. Never know where he got them, or when.

Actually, you're wrong.

Plenty of research available.

According to a study by Paul P Sharp at the Department of Dairy Industry, eggs deteriorate rather quickly in temperatures over 20 degrees centigrade. To preserve the egg really long, it should be stored at below 2 degrees centigrade.

I have institutional online access to papers like this, but unfortunately I can't download.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1937.tb17821.x/pdf

So, in short, eggs go bad quicker if stored outside the fridge. Science never lies. Sorry.

As the optimum temperature for a fridge is 3 - 5 degrees centigrade the theory of storing eggs below 2 degrees is not going to work for most people. The racks in the fridge door are the worst place to store eggs. The constant shaking thins the whites and the flavours of other foods can penetrate the shell. The only real problem you may have with storing eggs outside of the fridge is if the egg had salmonella then it would multiply much quicker than had the egg been stored in the fridge. The best advice would be, only buy the amount of eggs that you need.

[stoneyboy]

Eggs is eggs.

[Forethat]

Eggs are never refrigerated in NZ shops/supermarkets, but I like to keep them in the fridge as slower deterioration. Use-by date is about a mth, but shorter in Bangkok I notice to allow for heat. Must be really hard for hot country retailers as stuff spoils quicker than in colder climates.

Wd love to live in Bangkok fulltime but too hot - 15approx. degrees most morning here at present with sunny days.

Actually, maybe not.

Egg shells are permeable. The membrane lining the inside of them, not so much so. If you refrigerate, problem is low humidity. This accelerates deterioration of the lining, pulling it away from the shell. Leaving in a warm room at 90% humidity, could well preserve them longer.

The Brit supermarkets have it over the Yanks here, their food national food guidelines require not washing their eggs. Washing removes protection. More USA germaphobia.

Having said that, I'd never buy from Somchai here. Never know where he got them, or when.

Actually, you're wrong.

Plenty of research available.

According to a study by Paul P Sharp at the Department of Dairy Industry, eggs deteriorate rather quickly in temperatures over 20 degrees centigrade. To preserve the egg really long, it should be stored at below 2 degrees centigrade.

I have institutional online access to papers like this, but unfortunately I can't download.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1937.tb17821.x/pdf

So, in short, eggs go bad quicker if stored outside the fridge. Science never lies. Sorry.

As the optimum temperature for a fridge is 3 - 5 degrees centigrade the theory of storing eggs below 2 degrees is not going to work for most people. The racks in the fridge door are the worst place to store eggs. The constant shaking thins the whites and the flavours of other foods can penetrate the shell. The only real problem you may have with storing eggs outside of the fridge is if the egg had salmonella then it would multiply much quicker than had the egg been stored in the fridge. The best advice would be, only buy the amount of eggs that you need.

Actually, it is not a theory, it is an empirical fact that eggs deteriorate faster stored warmer. The question in the OP was "Why are eggs in the US refrigerated but eggs in Thailand are not? and the answer to that question is "because the eggs are preserved better and longer when stored cold, which is known by US authorities, but mostly unknown and neglected in Thailand".

I dont know from where you get the information that "the optimum temperature for a fridge is 3 - 5 degrees centigrade" (that doesn't apply to MY fridge, for instance), but it may well be so, but certainly not if storing eggs is important. Granted an egg may not perform at its best from a functional and gastronomical perspective, but in terms of preservation the answer is clear: the egg last much longer the colder it is stored.

The paper can be found via the link I posted.

But as you said, I dont see the need to store eggs longer than a week.

Lastly, the risk of Salmonella increases when you purchase the eggs from a producer who doesn't vaccinate the chickens, which in many cases is not even considered in Thailand, where at the same time it is regulated by law in UK, for instance. Which is why storing eggs outside the fridge is, in my opinion, not only functional but it also gives you a better tasting and functional egg.

Edited October 31, 2013 by Forethat