Food Safety of Sweaty Eggs?

[GirlsMommy18]

Cleaned my fridge earlier, and while the eggs were kept cold it's humid and rainy as all heck today. The eggs fridge is cold, the eggs stayed cold, but thanks the the weather, there is obvious sweating on nearly all 7 dozen of my eggs. I'm not sure if I should leave them or cook all of them and eat a crap ton of boiled eggs and egg salads. Any idea how safe these are?

 

[DobieLover]

They should be just fine. Put them back in the fridge.

 

[aart]

Had they been washed?
If not, were they particularly 'dirty'?

 

[Ridgerunner]

The short sweet answer, as long as they stayed cold, if you put them back in the fridge they will be fine whether you washed them or not.

Now some details. About the last thing a hen does to an egg is to put a wet layer of what we call bloom on an egg. That's why a newly laid egg looks wet, it is. But that bloom quickly dries and creates a boundary that inhibits bacteria from entering the porous egg shell. An egg with that bloom intact can last in a hidden nest on the ground for two weeks or more while the hen is laying a clutch and then another three weeks while she incubates it. The bloom is that effective.

If the bloom is compromised bacteria can enter through the porous shell. Bloom can be compromised by washing the egg, by scrubbing it with sandpaper or just something abrasive like your finger tips if rubbing dirt off, or while it is still wet it goes into dirt, poop, or maybe even bedding that gets under the bloom and is removed. When that condensation forms on the eggs you compromised the bloom.

Eggs that have been washed and the bloom totally removed can still last a long time in the refrigerator. Even if bacteria gets inside the temperature in the fridge is low enough that the bacteria in the egg doesn't multiply. That's why you can store other foods in your fridge, the cold keeps the bacteria from multiplying. Some stuff like dairy products will eventually go bad but eggs can last a long time. Greens usually get moldy instead of having problems with bacteria.

Now lets talk about dirt. When an egg warms up the air in the air cell expands, creating a bit of pressure inside the egg. Great. But when an egg cools off the air in the air cell contracts. This can create a suction which can pull in water through the porous shell. If that water is dirty (contains bacteria) then bacteria can get inside the egg. If you wash the eggs before you store them this is why the wash water should be a bit warmer than the eggs. After they are washed and the eggs are clean, bacteria will not be pulled inside if you put them in the refrigerator even if they are still wet, though I dry mine first when I wash the really dirty ones.

Remember, in the fridge the bacteria that gets in should not be multiplying anyway because of the temperature. Also the material inside the egg warms up and cools down pretty slowly because of the density. That's one reason a broody hen can stay off her nest for an hour or even much more without the egg cooling off enough for it to be problem in warmer weather. In the unlikely even those eggs were outside long enough to warm up inside enough to create a suction when they cool back off some of that condensate could be pulled inside. If they were in an egg carton which typically is pretty well insulated they will warm up much slower than if they were loose anyway. Personally I would not worry about this unless you were pretty ridiculous about how long they were outside the fridge, no more than I'd worry about the other food that was in the fridge.

Do you think the eggs were wet enough that they wills stick to the carton when they dry and you will have trouble getting them out? I'd be more concerned about this that the eggs going bad.

 

[Mrs. K]

And, if you cook them, before eating them, that too would eliminate any bacteria. If you eat them raw, you should be a bit more careful.