Food Lorists

First commandment, only buy eggs that stored on a refrigerated shelving and bring them back as quickly as possible in your own fridge. This will have for effect to minimise the risk of spoilage of your eggs with salmonella and listeria, which can have devastating effects on children, pregnant women, elderly people and immuno-depressed people.

The second commandment is to avoid shaking your eggs during transportation. Then DO NOT use the egg rack that nearly all home fridges have on their doors as it is the place of your fridge that get most of the shocks and vibrations. Instead, place them on an egg rack on one of the fridge shelf. Why these precautionary measures? Well, it is not to avoid to break your eggs, agitation thins the whites of the eggs therefore decreasing its nutritional values as well their cooking qualities especially in pastry making.

Third commandment, keep your eggs in an airtight container and not the carton they come in. These carton boxes are quite handy, I agree, but they do not protect the eggs from losing moisture, CO2 alike and absorb odours from other food in the fridge. Also, they cannot slow down the inevitable development of the stale flavour into the eggs. I remind you that an egg shell is porous, so that the future chick can breathe through during its development.

The fourth one is to keep your eggs on their side as it seems, after numerous studies done in the 50's, 60's and 70's, that it give a better centered yolk when hard cooked. There are no real answers to why this happen. Harold McGee thinks that perhaps the fact that both yolk cords fight equally against gravity.

And finally the fifth commandment, but maybe the most important of all DO NOT WASH the shell of raw eggs of any kind. As I said earlier, the shell of an egg isn't smooth or airtight or waterproof. In doing so you will dramatically increase the risk of bacteria that is on the shell, going through the shell and spoiling the inside of the egg. This applies too when you're cooking hard boiled eggs, do not start cooking your eggs in cold water, as the same process can happen.

In conclusion, bought fresh and handled with care, eggs should keep for several weeks in the shell.

To finish this post I would like to give some information on EU regulations about what should appear on boxes of eggs and grading. Awareness is knowledge.

Egg labelling

Eggs have separate rules. They are graded according to their class; A, B or C. Grading is done by an automated process known as 'candling' - looking through the egg against a bright background light. Grade A is the one you'll see in the shops; Grade B is 2nd quality or preserved eggs; and Grade C is for the food industry use only. Then they're weight graded into one of four sizes; very large or XL: large or L; medium or M; and Small or S. If they're sold in boxes the following information must appear:

- Packer's name and address
- Packing centre number
- Quality (A or A class)
- Weight (XL etc)
- Number
- Best before date
- Advice to keep refrigerated after purchase
- Optional information includes a 'sell by' date and the method of production.

Egg freshness

Under EU law eggs must carry a 'best before' date of no more than 28 days after laying and they must be sold within 21 days of being laid, so they've got at least a week to be eaten before their 'best before' date expires.
If they're marked as 'extra fresh' they must be sold within nine days of being laid. 'Sell by' dates are permitted as optional extras.