If you happen to reside within the U.S., Australia or Japan, you may suppose it is apparent. In fact it is best to refrigerate eggs! It could be unsafe to not, proper? However for those who reside wherever else on the planet, the query is perhaps puzzling. Why would you refrigerate eggs once they’re completely positive at room temperature?
Here is the place everybody agrees: The Salmonella enteritidis bacterium is extraordinarily harmful to people and may infect hens’ ovaries and contaminate eggs even earlier than they’re laid. Cracked or porous eggs can also turn into contaminated throughout the manufacturing course of. In response to the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration, salmonella is the No. 1 reason behind food-borne sickness within the U.S., inflicting greater than 142,000 sicknesses a yr [source: FDA].
As a result of there is no strategy to inform which eggs have been contaminated, egg producers have blanket safety insurance policies in opposition to salmonella. The U.S., Australia and Japan require eggs to be washed instantly in a scorching, soapy bathtub after which refrigerated for the rest of their shelf life. Producers and customers in most different nations do not wash or refrigerate their eggs in any respect.
On first look, it may appear that the wash-and-refrigerate contingent has the protection benefit. In actuality, the 2 camps are utilizing two methods to get the identical consequence.
Washing eggs kills micro organism, nevertheless it additionally removes the waxy shell coating that defends eggs in opposition to microorganisms. So then the washed eggs need to be continuously refrigerated to make up for his or her lack of safety. Non-egg-washing nations typically vaccinate their hens to forestall an infection, after which the naturally coated eggs do not need to be washed or refrigerated. Neither course of has been proven to be safer, which is one thing of a blessing for poorer nations the place refrigeration can be prohibitively costly for each particular person households and farms.
So, do you have to refrigerate your eggs? It is dependent upon the place you’re and from whom you have purchased them. If the eggs have been refrigerated by the manufacturing course of, you’ll want to preserve them within the fridge. If you happen to reside in most areas of the world, put your eggs within the pantry and keep it up.
