Different strategies to contain salmonella infection. As I understand it:

In the US, the approach is to take no chances - mistrust the supply chain, treat every egg as though it's infected. So eggs are warm-/hot-washed and treated with a chemical sanitizer to remove faecal matter and bacteria. At that point, for the moment, they're largely salmonella-free. BUT. The mandated process destroys the cuticle (the shell's natural outer protective barrier), so the eggs then need to be stored chilled to prevent new or remaining bacteria spreading into the interior.

Which is why (a) you'll find US eggs in the shop chiller compartments, and (b) even then, they don't have a particularly long shelf life.

In the EU (including the UK), the approach is to secure the supply chain and get rid of the salmonella at source. All mass-production poultry flocks are immunised. So there's then basically no need to wash the eggs in the first place, nor to chill them. But when people aren't used to having to store eggs chilled, allowing the sale of washed eggs such as those from the US would substantially increase the risk of mishandling and infection. So we don't.

It's also why Americans and Europeans can never find the eggs when they try to shop in each other's countries.

(Australia confuses matters by washing eggs but not then mandating that they be refrigerated - simply recommending it if you plan to keep them long. Apparently, not all strains of salmonella are equal; some are able to penetrate the shell after washing, some aren't. Those found in Australia, mostly aren't, so they can - broadly - get away with a more relaxed approach. But Oz does also seem to have a significantly higher incidence of human salmonella infections than the EU or US.)

@Doghouse so what happens after brexit?

@lena_shelby Breggsit, shurely

I liked this explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJwO5SdGcLk

I did notice everyone was weirdly terrified of raw eggs in America. They told me they could be full of salmonella, which seemed odd to me, as I've eaten plenty of dishes with raw egg in them at home in Australia, including raw egg drinks, and never been sick from them. Americans washing their eggs could be the reason: it removes the protective antibacterial coating. They also refrigerated their eggs, which is never to be recommended, it harms the egg immune system.... So this little snippet explains a lot. Thankyou.

@thisfox Why is refrigerating an egg wrong

@StevenU Because the baby chickens inside might get cold because they do not have blankets in the egg.

@StevenU I don't know about health reasons why it would be wrong, but refigerated eggs are harder to peel. The "skin" inside the shell gets more tough. Also it's pretty much useless as it doesn't preserve them any longer than room temperature. I don't think I have ever seen a refigerated egg in any store. Well raw egg anyway.

@Barracuda one time i took an egg out of the fridge, and when i tried to break it, it didn't cause the inside was literally frozen, xD

@Barracuda That is something that surprises Danes when we go into grocery stores abroad. They don't keep the eggs refigerated .

@thisfox Huh, interesting. That certainly explains a lot haha
Now I want to go to Australia or Britain or somewhere else and try raw egg...

@thisfox I raise chickens and we wash our eggs to get poop off of them so that they can be stored cleanly. Also buying eggs from a store that can hatch chicks sounds weird as you can easily separate the roosters from the hens and not have any issue.

@thisfox
My family always put the eggs in the fridge in summer.

Sometimes we put them in the pantry during winter, but.

I bet they are just doing that because they just want to hate eatch other.

Farm fresh eggs are great-- you wash them before you cook with them. Eggs bought from the store go bad a lot quicker BECAUSE they wash them before packaging. Growing up on a farm gives you an advantage to enjoying eggs a lot more.

The packaging on cake mixes and the like have stern warnings "DO NOT CONSUME RAW DOUGH" because of the 'potential' salmonella risk, even though I think the eggs are sterilized anyway?? No clue. Blame the FDA.

@kcsunshine true, the stress about raw chicken thingies is exaggerated.
There are several pudding-ish recipes that require raw egg and the inventors of that shit didn't die.

@Wortel basically salmonella is a product of commercial chicken farming, and was exceedingly rare when most raw egg recipes were written.
Also to everyone else: salmonella can be inside eggs too! Outsides are washed here to remove contaminants, and left alone in the UK so natural sealants in the eggs can be at play instead. But it might have gotten in from an infected chicken. Egg white is more risky than yolk due yo its membrane, but risk remains. Pasturized eggs are heated to a temp that kills germs but doesn’t cook the eggs. Irradiating eggs works too, but not popular due to misconceptions.

We buy free-range eggs which may still be pasteurized (washed) but have never had any problems with my soft-fried eggs, silk pies, raw cookie dough, etc. Americans are weird (I know, I'm one of them)....

I see....

Yeah, the FDA amen the USDA aren’t exactly filled with geniuses. But suggest we don’t need the bureaucrats and people fly off at the handle.

It's funny, how are eggs are cleaned and yet people still worry about salmonella. I made a French silk pie once and my aunt refused to eat it since it had raw eggs. It was ok, I got to eat her share

@tigercub123 I think it’s the contents(ie the yolk)and not the shell. People crack the eggs to use them and yet the salmonella risk remains.

@wingweaver84 Actually it IS the shell, but washing it is not enough. If you have salmonella in your country, you need to pasteurize the egg before using it, is just means putting the egg one second in boiling water, but it needs to be before cracking it, doing it earlier doesnt help much.

@Carewolf
It can penetrate the shell, it just isn't that common so most the risk is on the shell.

@tigercub123 I eat raw cookie dough all the time. Chance of getting a contaminated egg is really low.

@Steeeve i know. It's thanks to.some guy named Louis

You... wash eggs? I've heard of eggwash, but...

@Lumoseo
Well, the Americans do. But then they have to go through a whole 'nother process to make them safe. Australia just washes them and stores them on the store shelf, then keep them somewhere cool at home.

@AussiePengwin We just don't wanna die of food poisoning!

@Lumoseo Wait you don't?

@Jennifer_Pevensie ????Why would you wash eggs? XD They're eggs...

@Lumoseo Idk it just seems... right??
I think it's my American 'brainwashing' kicking in XD

This is such a good illustration for this factcard!

It's... Weird here. Farmers are meant to wash them, but they can be on the store shelves just fine. Better to put them in the fridge from store to home, though, just in case.

Wow, interesting.

This is why I buy my eggs at the farm down the road and not at the market.

@Rosin
#9550727
The blanket is a human invention. What reason do you have to believe baby chickens would even know what a blanket is? :P

are eggs alive

@Lavender Yes. Of course they are. Where do you think birds come from?
I don't know about other countries, but here in Norway some people have decided to try to hatch eggs bought from grocery stores. I think they managed to hatch about 1/3 of them.

@Tjalve They're not alive unless they're fertilized.

Store-bought eggs usually aren't (in the US, anyway).

@wiseesiw Usually.
In Norway they aren't supposed to be fertilized either. But as I said, when someone tested that, they managed to hatch about 1/3 of the store bought eggs.

@Tjalve That shouldn't be possible, because egg farms don't have roosters :/

@SpidersWeb In the US, it depends on the source. I've taken to cracking brown eggs into a small custard bowl due to my mother discovering a dead, partly developed chick in one. I don't think there is much risk from the white eggs, but the brown ones are a tossup.

@SpidersWeb Apparently they do in Norway.