We've all been there, warily eyeing the sell-by date or, even worse, looking at eggs we've unpacked into an egg tray with no date to even guide us.
Fear not: the sell-by date isn't the best marker of freshness, anyway. The truth is, eggs are usually good for a while after those dates come and go. Ahead, we'll dive deeper into where sell-by dates come from and the other date on the carton that actually matters.
We'll also give you a 3-second, no-fail test to verify the freshness of any egg, and teach you how to store your eggs properly so they stay as fresh as possible for as long as possible. First: ignore the sell-by date. The USDA mandates that any sell-by date on eggs be 21—30 days from when they were packed. There's a more reliable way to figure out whether your eggs are still good to eat. On the side of every egg carton, there's a longer numerical code listed above or below the expiration or sell-by date.
The last three digits of this longer code correspond to the Julian date, which counts each day of the year as a number between and —for example, "" is May 20th the USDA has a handy chart , in case you don't want to do the math.
That date is the exact day that the eggs were packed, and they're going to be totally fine within four to five weeks of that pack date. Want to skip checking the chart every time you open the fridge? Just calculate the real expiration date and write it right on the carton. To help sort out the fact from the fiction, BBC Future is updating some of our most popular nutrition stories from our archive.
Our colleagues at BBC Good Food are focusing on practical solutions for ingredient swaps, nutritious storecupboard recipes and all aspects of cooking and eating during lockdown. If there was such a thing as a perfect food, eggs would be a contender. Eating eggs alongside other food can help our bodies absorb more vitamins, too.
For example, one study found that adding an egg to salad can increase how much vitamin E we get from the salad. But for decades, eating eggs has also been controversial due to their high cholesterol content — which some studies have linked to an increased risk of heart disease. One egg yolk contains around milligrams of cholesterol, which is more than half of the mg daily amount of cholesterol that the US dietary guidelines recommended until recently.
Additionally, there have been scientifically unsupported claims the eggs can guard against coronavirus, or that they have even been responsible for its outbreak. There has even been one outlandish theory that spitting in an egg before cooking it creates antibodies which can guard against the disease.
There's no evidence to support this. But cholesterol is a crucial building block in our cell membranes. It also is needed for the body to make vitamin D, and the hormones testosterone and oestrogen. Cholesterol is found in animal products like beef as well as eggs Credit: Getty Images. Cholesterol is transported around our body by lipoprotein molecules in the blood. Every person has a different combination of various types of lipoproteins, and our individual make-up plays a role in determining our risk of developing heart disease.
Researchers say that this can result in a build-up of cholesterol in the blood vessels and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Do you know a bad egg when you see one?
Probably not. But there is a way to test your eggs before cracking them, saving yourself from ruining a whole batch of chocolate chip cookie dough. First, here are two things that are important to know. Strict expiry dates are reserved for foods where the composition and nutritional value are compromised after the prescribed time.
Best-by dates are the anticipated amount of time that a food will maintain its freshness, taste, and nutritional value, which is up to 90 days after packaging when the item is properly stored. A major health risk associated with eggs is Salmonella , a harmful bacteria that can cause food poisoning. Salmonella is often found on the outside of the shell, and can sometimes be in the egg itself. Yes No. Log in Social login does not work in incognito and private browsers.
Please log in with your username or email to continue. No account yet? Create an account. Edit this Article. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article methods. Signs an Egg is Bad. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Method 1. Place the egg in question in a bowl or wide glass of cold water and see if it floats.
There is a tiny air pocket inside eggs, and over time more and more air passes through their porous shells and into the egg. As more air enters the egg, the air pocket grows larger, making the egg more buoyant. You should test the egg by cracking it open and looking for or smelling signs that it has gone bad.
Hold the egg up to your ear and shake it, listening for a sloshing sound. As the egg ages and moisture and carbon dioxide escapes through the shell, the yolk and white begin to dry out and shrink, and the air pocket in the egg becomes bigger.
A fresh egg should not make much, if any, sound when you shake it. Crack the egg open on a plate or in a large bowl and check the quality of the yolk and white. The integrity of the egg will lessen as it ages, so it won't hold together as well as a fresh egg. Notice if the egg seems to spread over a wide distance on the plate, or if it stays relatively compact. An egg that spreads or seems a little watery has a thinner white and is past its peak freshness. A cloudy white indicates a very fresh egg.
A clear white means the egg is older but may still be edible. Method 2.
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