From what I've read, in the US eggs are washed and sprayed with sanitizer, to reduce risk of salmonella infection. Unfortunately, this increases the chances of bacteria seeping into the egg through the shell, as the shell's outside layers are damaged during washing.

In most European countries, salmonella is controlled in place of production, and egg production at least in the Nordics is salmonella free. There are strict controls and regulations in place to keep it that way. In this environment, the risks associated with egg washing outweigh the advantages.

Why are eggs sold in Denmark refrigerated?

This surprised me, since I'm from the UK where they're kept at room temperature on a supermarket shelf.

Although eggs are displayed on a (non-refrigerated) shelf in UK supermarkets, if you look at the egg carton, they all state the eggs should be refrigerated after purchase.

Presumably this is because eggs stay fresher longer in a cool environment and keeping them in the fridge is the easiest way to do this if you don't have some other cool storage space?

I would venture a guess that this is a case of “better safe than sorry”, although admittedly I don't know what the exact verbiage on an UK egg carton is.

Some supermarkets may decide to refrigerate the eggs, even if it is unnecessary. The shell of a cold egg will get wet when it warms up (condensation), and bacteria on the shell will thrive. This could lead to dangerous levels of contamination on the shell, and some of it might make it's way in your body.

I live in Cyprus where the current temperature is 38c and eggs are not being sold refrigerated but we dorefrigerate them at home to extend their lifetime.

As far as I know, in Denmark, eggs are produced unwashed and salmonella free. Supermarkets (unnecessarily) refrigerate them because customers expect that.

Also true in Norway and Sweden. The funniest part is that IIRC, the "best before" date is based on storage at room temperature, due to EU regulations, but everyone in the Nordic countries keeps them refrigerated.

But I thought Denmark had more of an issue with egg salmonella than Sweden and Norway? I've seen Danish cooking shows where they take care to use pasteurised eggs/yolks whenever they're not cooked in a recipe (like for mayonnaise), but never in Norway or Sweden.

In Finland, some stores might stash eggs in refridgerated sections but overwhelmingly they're kept in room temperature. Salmonella is virtually non-existent in Finland. Eggs can generally be consumed even raw. That is because of a special stricter-than-usual control of poultry and egg production which effectively means that only Swedish and Danish eggs meet the import standards. Yet no eggs are imported to Finland anyway and the country is actually a net exporter.

Plenty of eggs are sold in room temperature in both Norway and Sweden. And neither country utilizes refrigerated transports, so there is no unbroken cold chain.

Isn't there natural refrigeration in those countries most of the year?

You can't put eggs outside in winter, frozen eggs crack

You can actually dip your eggs in mineral oil to recoat them! Then you can leave them out refrigerated just fine.

And turn the carton upside down every week or so, and you can keep them for 6 months or so ( I have heard)

This is interesting, because I don't understand why turning eggs would increase their shelf life. Does anyone know if this is actually works, and why?

I haven't tried, but supposedly the yolk slowly moves to the bottom. Soon after it touches the inside of the shell, it's game over. Inverting the eggs regularly keeps the yolks in the middle.

This is cool. I go through about 30 eggs a week though, so normal shelf life is pretty good for me.

Refrigerating eggs is not 'ubiquitous' as mentioned in the article, the US is more then exception than the norm[1] here.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/09/11/336330502/why...

Yes, was going to mention this... Using eggs was probably the worst example they could come up with. I mean looking at the hatchery photo, most people across the world would see anything strange with it.

But since this predates modern breeds, it sounds like they were keeping eggs for up to a year. Surely unrefrigerated eggs don't last that long.

True, unrefrigerated eggs only last for 3 weeks. But if I remember correctly, even with refrigeration, eggs cannot last more than 6 weeks and still be safe to consume. So, I'm a bit skeptical about keeping the eggs up to a year like this..

Of course, there's always preserved eggs which are quite delicious :-)

Do you have any thing to back up this claim? I've kept chickens for 15+ years.

I don't wash, nor refrigerate my eggs. I regularly keep eggs longer than three weeks. There was a whole box i consumed once that was at least 6 months old. Not one egg was bad, although they were "drier" then usual.

Bad eggs are incredibly easy to detect. They don't smell right.

You can also dunk eggs in some water. If they float, they're bad. If they sink, you're good to go. It's so easy to do that I always check before I eat an egg.

Nope, I based myself only on the guidelines given in EU for unrefrigerated eggs... Good to know that I was wrong and thanks for the clarification.

Here in New Zealand it's abut 50/50 whether a household refrigerates eggs. I don't think it's a requirement for restaurants to do so either.

Apparently all eggs in Australia and New Zealand are pasteurised [0]. <edit> looks like I need to work on my critical reading, only egg _products_ like egg whites need to be pasteurised, eggs don't.

Personally, I don't refigerate my eggs, but I tend to go them pretty quickly. I've had them out in the kitchen for over a month before, and they've been fine (it was the middle of winter and a very cold kitchen).

[0]: http://www.foodsafety.govt.nz/industry/sectors/poultry-eggs/...

Definitely no requirement to refridgrate eggs in NZ, they're sold unrefrigrated.

After laying eggs are lightly brushed clean, date stamped and packaged, there is no other treatment.

Shelf life is around 3 months, normally about a month beyond the best before date.

Its all about the washing apparently. In USA they are required to be washed, so their sanitary sealed shell is compromised, so refrigeration.

Dunno why but Australia has moved to selling them refrigerated, but maybe 10 years ago they used to be sold at room temperature

Yeah, if you don't remove the membrane from the egg during processing, they are fine at room temperature for a very long time.

Fun fact: EU eggs would be illegal to sell in the US (because they aren't washed) and US eggs would be illegal to sell in the EU (because they are washed) :)

Correct. Americans wash them for the same reasons that Europeans do not - to keep them free from salmonella. Obviously the E.U. way is much better and in keeping with nature (as if there is nature in any food production).

Hopefully some egg historian can chime in and shed some light on how the Chicken Tax relates to this, however, battery farming started in the U.S. and exports almost put European chicken farmers out of business. Before that happened, chicken was something that people ate once or twice a year, on special occasions rather than several times a day.

What I found fascinating about the article was the idea that eggs were once seasonal, this I never knew. However, now I know this, the Easter 'egg' thing (which has nothing to do with the Baby Jesus) seems to make sense as yet another Pagan tradition co-opted by the holy ones. I do like it when I have such a new insight to explore.

Without the trip, same thing with US eggs and Mexico eggs. You can go a mile across the border and get different style eggs.

Same for Russia, Italy, and Spain from what I've seen. Though (anecdotally), I remember my sister leaving some throwin' eggs to funk up next to our house in order to pursue a feud with the local paper boy, so they're not totally indestructable.

If anything refrigerating eggs is a negative thing, as they'll slowly take on hints of flavour from the other things in your fridge.

Do non-refrigerated eggs somehow and magically not take hints of flavour from other things nearby? Or is there something about not refrigerating eggs that allows you to place them away from anything else that has an odour? I find this comment thoroughly confusing.

Fridges are tightly enclosed small spaces that will allow the odours of last night's left over Vindaloo to reach appreciable density and stay there all night. Fridges often contain leftovers and high odour items, sometimes for extended periods. On an open shelf in the kitchen this is far less likely - odours dissipate and are only around for the hour or whatever that you're cooking meals.

To add another egg-anecdote from another country: In German facilities like retirement homes eggs are not allowed inside the kitchen. They have to be prepared at a separate location like the basement, transported into the kitchen inside a cooking pot and put directly on the stove.

Better safe than sorry? Are the handlers required to wear the rubber cloves during the operation?

I think so, but I am not sure. I worked as a janitor during civil service and there were lots of these rules, some very sensible, some not so much: I had to wear a white coat over my regular clothes, when entering the kitchen. That my private clothes were washed more regularly or that I sometimes had to move around garbage wearing the exact same coat (sent by other people) did not matter.

You cannot imagine an environment more regulated. The nurses were trained to tick boxes to a ridiculous level: I still remember how a nurse answered a question like "You come in, the patient is not breathing. What do you do?" during a first aid course with: "Measure blood pressure."