If eggs float, are they really that bad to eat?

[KDrake]

I'm not sure if I posted in the right spot, sorry if it's not!

I had someone come and pick up several dozen eggs. She ended up tripping on something while walking out our door. She dropped 2 dozen eggs and most of them broke. I replaced the broken ones at no extra cost to her.

I had to pull a carton out of our fridge and was in a rush to get her the eggs. I didn't do the float test that I did on the the rest of the eggs. After she had left, I checked the rest of the carton and a few of them were floaters I cracked them open and none of them smelled rotten or looked bad.

I'm worried I may have given her a few bad eggs. Are eggs really rotten if they float?

 

[goldysgirl]

I discard eggs once they stand up on end in water. I consider them old by then. I don't check them that way normally...only notice if boiling. If I crack them and the air cell is big I toss them, too. I believe the air cell makes them float when the egg gets old and loses moisture and the air cell gets big as a result. Not sure if it really means it is "rotten," but an old egg could be spoiled/contaminated with bacterial growth.

 

[Folly's place]

I move egg cartons through my refrigerator in a specific order, so the oldest eggs move out first, and they are never more than a week or ten days old by then. I don't 'float' any of them, because I'm collecting eggs daily, and pitch any that I find in hidden nests.
Clean eggs properly refrigerated live a long time, and the float test finds big air cells, not necessarily all bad eggs.
Mary

 

[goldysgirl]

I move egg cartons through my refrigerator in a specific order, so the oldest eggs move out first, and they are never more than a week or ten days old by then. I don't 'float' any of them, because I'm collecting eggs daily, and pitch any that I find in hidden nests.
Clean eggs properly refrigerated live a long time, and the float test finds big air cells, not necessarily all bad eggs.
Mary

Good point. My cartons go through an organized rotation, too. Only once in awhile do I notice an egg standing up. Usually they have been ones from older hens with thinner shells. My easter eggers have always had thinner shells for some reason. Used to have a guinea hen and you practically needed a hammer to crack hers. I try to use or freeze by the time they are a month old. I don't think that a float test should be considered reliable, but it can give a general idea about freshness. If I eat a slightly underdone egg or make really soft, gooey cookies, I use a spotless egg laid that day to minimize risk of infection.

 

[aart]

the float test finds big air cells, not necessarily all bad eggs.

Exactly!

Floating an egg will only tell you how old it might be.
They float due to evaporation when older.
It will not tell you if an egg is 'good' or 'bad'.
Plus then you've wetted the egg so it should be thoroughly washed and refrigerated.

When in doubt....
Open eggs one at a time in a separate dish before adding to pan or recipe,
use your eyes, nose, and common sense to decide if egg is OK to eat.

 

[Folly's place]

That other old saying applies here; "When in doubt, throw it out"!
Mary

 

[chrissynemetz]

A floating egg is an older egg, not necessarily a rotten egg...
but me personally I toss them if they ever hang around long enough to float.

 

[AsaDotJava]

I don't float test eggs. The only time I ever notice is if I am hard boiling, and I tend to do that with older eggs anyways because - in my opinion with no actual scientific research done - that process eliminates bacterias that may have grown. I *ALWAYS* crack eggs individually into a separate bowl first!

Open eggs one at a time in a separate dish before adding to pan or recipe,

My darling cousin learned this the hard way! He was staying with us and wanted to make breakfast. He began cracking eggs into a bowl for scrambled. He got to the 12th egg and it was rotten! So he had to discard the whole bowl and was so upset about "wasting" the eggs... but my dogs sure enjoyed THEIR breakfast haha.

 

[feathermaid]

There's usually no way to tell a rotten egg until you crack it open. I highly doubt any of the eggs you gave that woman were rotten. If anything they would just have a larger air cell.

If you washed them before refrigeration there's minimal risk of any bacteria having made it's way inside, similar to store-bought eggs that can already be 30-45 days old on the shelf. Even if you didn't wash them, the bloom should have protected them. I date my cartons and rotate accordingly, but I've still had a few eggs hang around for quite a while, probably over a month and never noticed much difference in quality or had a single rotten one since I started a few years ago.

A bigger question... do you keep all of the eggs you sell refrigerated? A float test will remove the bloom and leave the eggs susceptible to bacteria penetration if left at room temperature. I was just wondering because you said you grabbed them from the fridge like that's not something you normally do.