When you get home from the grocery store or the market, you probably wash your fruits and vegetables before eating them. But what about eggs? Should you wash your eggs before cooking? It's logical to assume that you do. After all, who knows how many hands have touched those eggs?
ContentShould You Wash Your Eggs Before CookingHow to Wash Unwashed Eggs and Keep Them FreshConclusion: Should You Wash Your Eggs Before Cooking?
Your fear is real: fresh, unbroken eggs can contain salmonella bacteria, which cause food poisoning. Do you need to wash eggs? WomanEL shares with you the opinion of a food safety expert.
Should eggs be washed before cooking
While your best intentions are to stay safe and avoid foodborne illness, it's actually best to skip this step. Here's why: “They're already washed. Commercial egg washes usually use a sterilizing agent. That's not what you'd normally do at home. Washing them isn't harmful, but it's not helpful either,” says food scientist Brian Kwok Le.
However, the question of whether you need to wash farm-fresh eggs is a hotly debated one. Unlike store-bought eggs, fresh eggs have a protective shell that allows them to be stored at room temperature for several weeks, says Dr. Kwok Le.
“Many people have decided that washing farm-fresh eggs reduces many of the risks. But the problem with washing is that it removes the cuticle, which is the protective shell, making them susceptible to spoilage. So if you wash eggs, you need to store them in the refrigerator,” he explains.
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How to wash unwashed eggs and keep them fresh
Store eggs separately from other foods in the refrigerator, Source: freepik.com
Dr. Kwok Le recommends washing fresh eggs thoroughly with warm water. Warm water will kill more microorganisms. Fresh eggs can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month as long as they are not cracked. If the shell is damaged, he advises throwing the egg away to avoid cross-contamination with bacteria. But even if there are no cracks, Dr. Kwok Le recommends storing eggs in the refrigerator away from other foods.
“Making sure they don’t come into contact with other products is really important because they can carry salmonella onto the shelf with other products. So just make sure there’s a separation or some kind of physical barrier between them,” he says.
Keeping farm-raised and store-bought eggs in the refrigerator also extends their freshness.
According to a study published in the journal Poultry Science, washed and oiled eggs stored in the refrigerator maintained grade A quality after 15 weeks. While unwashed eggs stored at room temperature dropped from grade AA to almost grade B in one week.
For your information, the grade of an egg depends on the quality of its inner surface, with grade AA being the freshest. Grade B eggs have a thinner white and a flatter yolk, so they are usually used to make liquid or dry egg products.
Conclusion: Should You Wash Eggs Before Cooking?
To wash or not to wash eggs – that is the question. And experts say the answer varies, depending on where they are produced and sold. Basically, if you want to avoid foodborne illness, you shouldn't wash store-bought eggs, as they are already sterilized. But if you choose farm-raised eggs, you can wash them in warm water and then store them in the refrigerator to preserve their freshness.
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