



Q: How old are the eggs being sold in the grocery store?





A: It's just about impossible to tell, but they could be up to 2 months old. Yup, really.





Up to 30 Days IN the Carton

after the date it was put in the carton. Yes, that says 'put in the carton', not laid or collected, but packaged.



And I'm told (although I can't find anything official in writing to confirm this) that a farmer has up to 30 days to package an egg after it's laid.



So that means a commercially sold egg can be two months old by the time you buy it.





By law, an egg can be sold for up to 30 daysthe date it was put in the carton. Yes, that says 'put in the carton', not laid or collected, butAnd I'm told (although I can't find anything official in writing to confirm this) that a farmer has up to 30 days to package an egg after it's laid.So that means a commercially sold egg can be two months old by the time you buy it.





The yolk won't be quite as firm and the whites will be more runny, but it will still be fine to eat. The air sac will be larger since more air has had the chance to seep through the pores in the shell. And there's been a greater chance of bacteria seeping in as well, I would guess.



But hey, on the bright side, that 'up to 60 day old' egg will peel just great when you hard boil it - although if you Sure the egg will be just fine to eat. Not as fresh, of course.The yolk won't be quite as firm and the whites will be more runny, but it will still be fine to eat. The air sac will be larger since more air has had the chance to seep through the pores in the shell. And there's been a greater chance of bacteria seeping in as well, I would guess.But hey, on the bright side, that 'up to 60 day old' egg will peel just great when you hard boil it - although if you steam your fresh eggs they'll peel just fine too.





But I personally would rather eat a fresh egg any day. If you don't have your own chickens, and aren't near a farmers market, or know a friend or local farmer who provides you eggs, you're at the mercy of the commercial farmers, so how can you increase your chances of choosing store bought eggs that are as fresh as possible?





Well, you have to learn the 'code'.





On each egg carton, there's a number printed, from 1 to 365 (I bet you can see where I'm going with this, can't you?). That represents the day of the year the carton was filled: 1 being January 1st and 365 being December 31st. Using the code, you can at least tell when the eggs were put in the carton.





As an example, a friend of mine recently went shopping and found a carton with the code 345 on it. That means the eggs were put in the carton on December 11th. She picked up the carton at the grocery store on January 8th.



That means those eggs were at least 28 days old. (As an aside, the carton had a "sell by" date of January 9th. Which is right in line with the 30 day limit that the eggs can be in the carton.)



I found this carton on the shelf on January 19th. The code of 355 told me that the eggs were packaged ten days before the end of last year, so by January 19th, they were a minimum of 29 days old. Sure, the 'best by' date is still a few weeks away, but these are still pretty old eggs.



