How to wash eating eggs before selling?

[A.T. Hagan]

Quote:
This is kinda what I was thinking. Dosen't the comercial egg farmers wash them in some type of soap?

The commercial operations wash them in an egg wash solution, then they are coated with a substance to replace the bloom lost from washing. Still, eggs with the bloom intact last much longer than grocery store eggs (the ones that are washed, then coated). Mother Nature always does it better than man can.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1977-11-01/Fresh-Eggs.aspx

The substance is mineral oil. And they do that because they want the eggs to not lose appreciable moisture for the length of time they're legally allowed to sell them - thirty days.

My customers don't want their eggs coated with mineral oil - most of them are going to eat them before they lose enough moisture to lose any appreciable amount of quality. They also want their eggs visibly clean. Most of them have never kept birds themselves and never will, but have been buying eggs all their life. I could sell only the cleanest eggs out of the nests so that I wouldn't have to wash them, but that would leave a lot of perfectly good eggs with minor to moderate dirt that I could not sell.

Everyone has to come to their own conclusions about this. I choose to sell clean eggs. If you want to keep your eggs in the fridge for six months then by all means store only the cleanest unwashed eggs. Their quality will be terrible, but many of them will still be safe to eat. I personally won't sell an egg over a week old and the store I sell to I take back any eggs that have hit their month mark. Yes, I do date every carton I sell to them.

.....Alan.

 

[gritsar]

A.T. Hagan :

Quote:
The commercial operations wash them in an egg wash solution, then they are coated with a substance to replace the bloom lost from washing. Still, eggs with the bloom intact last much longer than grocery store eggs (the ones that are washed, then coated). Mother Nature always does it better than man can.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1977-11-01/Fresh-Eggs.aspx

The substance is mineral oil. And they do that because they want the eggs to not lose appreciable moisture for the length of time they're legally allowed to sell them - thirty days.

My customers don't want their eggs coated with mineral oil - most of them are going to eat them before they lose enough moisture to lose any appreciable amount of quality. They also want their eggs visibly clean. Most of them have never kept birds themselves and never will, but have been buying eggs all their life. I could sell only the cleanest eggs out of the nests so that I wouldn't have to wash them, but that would leave a lot of perfectly good eggs with minor to moderate dirt that I could not sell.

Everyone has to come to their own conclusions about this. I choose to sell clean eggs. If you want to keep your eggs in the fridge for six months then by all means store only the cleanest unwashed eggs. Their quality will be terrible, but many of them will still be safe to eat. I personally won't sell an egg over a week old and the store I sell to I take back any eggs that have hit their month mark. Yes, I do date every carton I sell to them.

.....Alan.​

Different customer base I guess. When I first started selling eggs my customers (neighbors and friends that have been eating farm fresh eggs their whole lives) made a point of telling me that they didn't want their eggs washed. I rarely have a really dirty, poop covered egg; when I do it goes to the dogs who are going to get an egg regardless of whether it's clean or not.

 

[Olive Hill]

Simple. I keep a clean coop and extra clean nest boxes. When the eggs come in clean from the chicken there is no need to wash them and the bloom can be left intact. IMHO, if you're bringing in any significant number of eggs that are at all dirty to the eye you need to reassess your husbandry practices.

 

[gritsar]

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[MareeZoCool]

With my very first eggs, I soaked them in some warm water. When I went back to dry them they had gotten soggy!

I felt so dumb! That was WAY B4 I found this forum.