Scientific and GOST: Is it possible to store washed eggs in the refrigerator

You buy a dozen eggs in the supermarket, you open the box - and they look ... so to speak, as much as possible "ECO". It is better not to think about the origin of the spots left on the shell. A familiar situation, isn't it? Each time you have to carefully wash these "greetings from the poultry factory." But the older generation does not get tired of repeating that it is impossible to store washed eggs in the refrigerator - they say, they will quickly go bad. Is it true? In part, yes.

In poultry farms, thorough cleaning is not organized precisely because it shortens shelf life. But washing under the tap does not turn a fresh egg into a rotten egg: before it becomes unsuitable for food, a lot of time will pass.

The most important thing about the expiration date

The shelf life of chicken eggs depends on three circumstances:

• storage temperature;
• method of use;
• cleaning up.

For example, an egg obtained 10 days ago cannot be eaten raw, but it can be eaten boiled, fried, or used to make dough.

Doctors and technologists divide eggs into three categories:

• Dietary - those that were stored at room temperature for no more than a week. They are suitable for baby food and for eating raw (subject to thorough cleaning right before meals).
• Canteens - stored at room temperature for no more than a month. They can be fried, boiled soft-boiled and hard boiled, used for baking.
• Chilled dining - stored for more than 30 days at a temperature of about 0 ° C. They can only be used for making dough before prolonged baking.

In general, the rule is this: if you are not a lover of raw eggs, then you can keep a dozen bought in the refrigerator for up to 5 weeks (we count the time not from the date of purchase, but from the date of production).

But if you wash the eggs, then the shelf life is significantly reduced:

• at room temperature they can be kept for no more than a day;
• in the refrigerator - no more than 5 days.

What is the danger of washing?

When the egg is just forming inside the chicken, the thinnest protective film - the cuticle - forms on the surface of the shell. It is air- and moisture-permeable, consists of proteins, pigments and a bactericidal substance - lysozyme. If everything went as intended by nature, the shell-film would serve as protection against infections during the development of the chicken inside the egg.

Even if the testicle is not intended to incubate as a layer, the protective film still works fine, keeping it fresh for a month or more. But when washing the cuticle dissolves and is washed off from the surface of the shell. Now the egg needs to be cooked and eaten soon, otherwise it will go bad.

Do you know why raw eggs last longer than boiled eggs? Because during cooking, the protective film is 100% destroyed. Even to the touch, the shell of a boiled testicle is completely different - more rough and porous, bacteria freely penetrate through it.

So, the conclusion is simple: you need to wash chicken eggs immediately before cooking. If you just want to send a dozen just bought to the “egg compartment” of the refrigerator clean, then you can wash it, but you will have to use this food supply in the next 4 days.