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.