No, I understood the article to state that washed eggs shouldn't be stored unrefrigerated at all (except to bring up to room temp just before cooking). The "1 week for unrefrigerated eggs" referred to eggs that still had their cuticle.

I live in Ireland, in the EU, and I'm fairly sure all the eggs in supermarkets here are washed. There's never a spot of dirt on them. And we always refrigerate, as does everyone I know

My brother in law is a small-scale farmer in Wales and produces chicken and duck eggs. I've previously discussed egg washing with him.

My understanding from such conversations is that eggs in the EU are definitely not washed.

Supermarket caged-hen eggs are generally clean in appearance due to the lack of items that might otherwise stick to the them.

I have found free range supermarket eggs, on the other hand, to sometimes have small features stuck to them.

I'm not sure what accounts for the generally clean appearance of supermarket eggs. Maybe eggs are brushed in some manner to remove obvious dirt. But the washing of eggs is certainly not a legal practice in the EU.

If you wash and, worse, brush a porous surface, you are pushing the water and dirt directly inside the egg. If there is not a lot of dirt on the egg surface is healthier to let the egg as is.

In the other hand, you can have perfectly clean eggs if 1) you use a modern nesting box designed to hide the eggs and 2) provide independent sleeping areas higher to discourage the hens to sleep in the nesting boxes.

You could also scratch the surface with an old credit card or a knife but is better not to use water. Storing eggs in the fridge is also convenient, eggs shells shouldn't be in contact with other eggs.

I think they are automatically removed from the birds immediately, so they dont get dirty. I have had eggs from farmers that are very mucky...

It wouldn't surprise me if supermarket eggs are just selected, with any that aren't clean being thrown out.

Here in the UK, when buying free-range supermarket eggs you definitely get the occasional egg with small bits of feather or poop stuck to them.

It's uncommon but it happens - they aren't throwing out the dirty ones.

I'm from Ireland and I don't refrigerate eggs. Growing up, eggs were always in the cupboard not the fridge.

I have no idea what the most common approach is. Eggs are not in the fridge at the supermarket, so why they would suddenly need to go in there once you get them home, I'm not sure.

I live in Romania, another EU country, and the eggs from the super-market are definitely not washed. They're also always refrigerated.

Interesting. I don't think I've ever seen a UK supermarket put eggs in a refrigerated section. They're always sold from a standard shelf.

They're always refrigerated in Denmark as well, usually in the dairy section along with the milk, cheese, and yogurt.

I'm also Romanian, however living in Hungary. Can confirm this for both countries. Eggs in supermarkets as Aldi or Lidl are not washed, possibly slightly cleaned before they receive a print stamp for the date of production.

Edit: The egg boxes are stacked outside of refrigerators at room temperature.

> and I'm fairly sure all the eggs in supermarkets here are washed

No, they're not washed. Lack of gunk is due to technique (or just cleaning mechanically) https://www.fsai.ie/faq/egg_washing.html

Also:

http://hoaxes.org/weblog/comments/artificial_dirty_eggs

"Artificially Dirty Eggs, 1973, the Dutch egg industry"

ok, I learned something today!

that's not because they are washed but they come from farms where laid egg immediately fall down to clean storage instead of lying in hen house together with crap