Have you ever preserved a bucket of water-glassed eggs for a year and wondered if you might die if you ate them? (No? Just me?) Or have you ever found an old, misplaced egg in the corner of your chicken coop and asked yourself if it might still be edible? Or maybe you just have an old carton of eggs in the back of your fridge and you're wondering how to tell if an egg is bad?
Well, no matter what kind of old egg problem you have, this post will help you decide whether to fry that egg or simply throw it out.
After 10 years of keeping chickens and preserving hundreds of eggs, here are the 7 easy ways I use to help me determine the freshness of an egg.
Jump to:
- Test #1: Determine your egg's shelf life
- Test #2: Decode the egg carton's expiry date
- Test #3: Examine the egg shells
- Test #4: Egg float test or water test
- Test #5: Candling eggs (for chicken farmers with fertile eggs)
- Test #6: Signs of discoloration
- Test #7: The smell test
- What if I eat a bad egg?
- The takeaway
Test #1: Determine your egg's shelf life
If you just want a simple way to tell whether a store bought egg is bad, the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources recommends eating your refrigerated eggs within three to five weeks of the day you purchased them.
How long are farm fresh eggs good for?
On your counter: about 21 days
In your fridge: about 50 days
Before you report me to Health Canada, the above numbers (sourced from the Chicken Whisperer Magazine) are for "unwashed eggs". The refrigerated eggs you buy at the grocery store will NOT last this long. Most commercial eggs have all been thoroughly washed, bleached, and possibly coated with mineral oil.
For eggs to stay fresh, they have to retain their "bloom coating". This coating is what keeps bacterial growth from penetrating the egg. When you wash your eggs, you remove this protective layer. Here is a more scientific explanation.
How long can I keep my eggs at room temperature?
Washed eggs (whether raw or cooked) kept at room temperature for more than two hours should be thrown out, according to Health Canada. "Foods spoil quickly in the "temperature danger zone" range of 4°C to 60°C (40°F to 140°F)."
Test #2: Decode the egg carton's expiry date
Did you know eggs past their expiry or sell-by date are still safe to eat? In fact, an expiry date is not required by federal law. However, if your egg cartons do happen to have an expiry date, you can safely eat the eggs for up to 3 weeks beyond the expiration date, according to the United Egg Producers.
What does the expiry, best-by, or use-by date mean?
This is simply when the eggs are at their freshest, but it does not mean the eggs will go bad after this date. Normally, this date is 28 to 35 days from the pack date, according to the Get Cracking website. If you use your eggs after that date, they are better for baking, hard boiling, or scrambling rather than poaching or frying.
The Packing Date - the most reliable date
There may be several dates on your egg cartons, but the packing date is the most reliable one. The packing date tells you exactly when the eggs were put in the carton. But it's not easy to spot because it's a three-digit code near the "use-by", "sell-by" or "exp" date.
This code refers to the Julian date calendar system where the days of the year are counted chronologically starting with 1 for January 1 and continuing through 365 for December 31. So, for example, an egg with the code "123" would have been packed on May 3.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
So, how can you use the packing date to help you tell if an egg has gone bad? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) you can safely store eggs in the fridge for four to five weeks beyond the packing date,
Test #3: Examine the egg shells
Examine your egg shells carefully for any damage or small hairline cracks, which can sometimes be hard to see. Cracked eggs are not safe to eat. Harmful bacteria can easily enter through any cracks in the egg shell. Immediately throw these eggs out.
Also, it goes without saying, do not eat any slimy or powdery-covered eggs, which can indicate mold. Yuck!
If you accidentally crack an egg (this happens a lot in our household as the kids like to carry the eggs in from the coop in their coat pockets), break the eggs into a small bowl, cover them tightly, and you can safely store them in the fridge for up to 2 days, according to the USDA Department of Agriculture.
If there is no visible damage to your egg shells, you can move on to test #4.
Test #4: Egg float test or water test
The egg float test may be the best way to test your eggs and it is a method I use regularly on any questionable eggs. It won't necessarily tell you if your egg is bad, but it will tell you how fresh it is, which is a good indication of whether or not you can eat it. Here's how to do it. Carefully place your eggs in a bowl of water or a glass of water. If the egg sinks to the bottom of the bowl or glass and lays on its side, it is very fresh.
If an egg floats, is it bad?
If your egg sinks in the cold water but rests with the large end facing up, it is an older egg but still edible. However, if your egg floats, it is definitely past its "best before date" and may have gone bad.
How does the egg float test work?
Put simply, fresh eggs are heavier than old eggs. This is due to the fact that as an egg ages, it starts to decompose, which creates gas. Eventually, a small gas bubble will form inside the egg. (That's why an older egg will float on its end.)
The shells of an egg are porous so over time some of the gases will escape, and eventually, the egg will weigh less than water and float to the top. Here is a more detailed explanation written by science writer, Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
If your eggs aren't floating, it's time to move on to the next test - candling your eggs. This is for my fellow chicken farmers who may have fertile eggs. If you don't have a rooster or are testing store-bought eggs, you can move on to step 4.
Test #5: Candling eggs (for chicken farmers with fertile eggs)
I once cracked open an egg to make an egg salad sandwich only to discover a developing chick inside. As you can imagine, ever since then, I've been careful to candle all my eggs when our hens are broody (the time of year when our girls decide to sit on their eggs and hatch them).
This test has to be done in a dark room with a bright light (in the past they may have used candles as the name "egg candling" suggests). Hold your bright light (such as a flashlight) up to the large end of the egg and examine the egg while carefully rotating the egg from side to side until you get the best view. You should be able to illuminate the contents of the egg and spot any developing embryos. Here's a more detailed description from poultrykeeper.com on how to do this test as well as pictures of the developing embryos at different stages.
Test #6: Signs of discoloration
I have ruined a few recipes because I cracked a bad egg directly into my batter. Instead, crack open any raw eggs you suspect may not be at their best, into a separate bowl and then examine the egg yolk and whites for any sign of discoloration. Below are some tips from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service to help you tell if an egg has gone bad.
A blood spot
Your egg is safe to eat. The blood spot is caused by a rupture of one or more small blood vessels in the yolk at the time of ovulation.
Cloudy whites
Cloudy whites mean your egg is fresh. A clear egg white is an indication that the egg is aging but is likely still safe to eat.
Pink or iridescent egg white
Your egg is bad. It has been infected by Pseudomonas bacteria.
What if the whites or yolks of my raw eggs are runny?
Eggs with runny whites or runny yolks are safe to eat. This is simply an indication that your egg is older.
"Over time, the white and yolk of an egg lose quality," according to USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, which states: "The yolk absorbs water from the white. Moisture and carbon dioxide in the white evaporate through the pores, allowing more air to penetrate the shell, and the air cell becomes larger. If broken open, the egg's contents would cover a wider area."
So you may not want to fry these eggs as they will spread in the pan. Save them for hard-boiled eggs or scrambled eggs.
What if the yolks of my eggs are orange?
This is good news! Although yolks can vary from yellow to orange shades, during the spring and summer the color of the yolks from my backyard flock are a beautiful, bright orange. This is because of their diet. They have access to an outdoor pen where they can eat lots of healthy grasses and plants. Leafy greens are rich in xanthophylls, the compound responsible for the orange yolk color.
However, an orange yolk does not necessarily mean the hen had a healthy diet. Feed manufacturers can add ingredients like marigolds and alfalfa to their feeding product, which can result in chickens producing eggs with orange yolks, even if they are not free-range, according to this article on Food Republic.
Test #7: The smell test
The easiest and fastest way to tell if an egg has spoiled is to do the sniff test - simply crack it open and smell it. You will definitely recognize that vomit-inducing, rotten egg smell.
What if I eat a bad egg?
Don't panic! You may not get sick at all or simply have a bad case of diarrhea. However, a bad egg can sometimes be contaminated with Salmonella or other harmful bacteria that can cause food poisoning, according to Health Canada. Most people recover from a salmonella infection completely on their own, according to Health Canada, but some may require hospital care.
The takeaway
There are several simple and successful tests you can use to tell if an egg is bad or if it's still good to eat. However, eggs infected with a food-borne illness, such as Salmonella, may still look and smell completely normal. That's why it's important to always cook your eggs to an internal temperature of at least 74°C (165°F) before you eat them, according to Health Canada. One caveat: In most European countries, hens have been inoculated against Salmonella prior to laying their eggs.
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