How to Store Eggs? (2024)

All foods have a shelf life. Although there are ways to increase the lifespan of food, there is no way to prevent the eventual decay, for sooner or later bacteria will feast on food before you can. A popular household method to delay food spoilage is refrigeration. Foods like fruits, vegetables, or curd are stored in the refrigerator to stop them from succumbing to the wrath of microorganisms and getting ruined. One such food which has garnered a lot of confusion about the correct storing method is eggs. Questions like, 'Should eggs be stored in the fridge', or 'Is it safe to keep them outside' arise often in the context of storing them in the right way. Today, we will address how you must keep eggs at home and retain their shelf life.

Before proceeding with the correct way to store eggs, it is important to understand, how they are packed. Eggs are susceptible to being contaminated with salmonella, either because the hen that laid the egg was infected, or if the egg comes in contact with dirt or fecal matter. All eggs are required to be washed thoroughly, then dried, sanitized, and refrigerated, before being shipped. Although this process eliminates all traces of salmonella bacteria from the shell, it also thins it, while removing some of it’s natural protection. Because the natural protection is lost, the eggs are immediately refrigerated to prevent any new infection.

As mentioned earlier, eggs are shipped after being refrigerated. Therefore to prevent the development of any potential bacteria, they must continue to be kept refrigerated. Keeping them on the counter at room temperature makes them more vulnerable to bacterial contamination. Moreover, in a lot of countries, the eggs are shipped without refrigeration. This means that the eggs are in danger of coming in contact with bacteria right from the time they had undergone their first treatment. This is a more grave concern, and therefore refrigeration is of utmost importance.

Ideally, once refrigerated, eggs must not be kept out. But sometimes you might need to keep the eggs out while cooking, or you might accidentally forget to put them back in the fridge. Storing eggs on the counter causes condensation on the egg shell, making it doubly more prone to contamination as water and warm temperatures are both breeding grounds for salmonella. But if for some reason eggs have found their way outside the fridge, make sure to put them back in within half an hour, and any longer than that would make the eggs hazardous for consumption.