Egg washing is not required in Australia, but sale of dirty eggs is prohibited under Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) requirements. A good option for cleaning dirty eggs is an automated washing machine system designed to produce a high recovery rate of first grade eggs.
Australia's egg situation is actually a bit all over the shop. Like the US, all eggs must be washed by hand or processor to prevent contamination on the outside of the egg. In addition, all broken or cracked eggs must be thrown out immediately.
In Australia, US, Sweden and other countries where chickens are not vaccinated against salmonella, eggs must be cleaned to remove bacteria and dirt before sale.
All of the eggs that you buy in a grocery store are washed—literally washed with soap and water—and the egg washing process removes the dirt and fecal matter that might carry salmonella. With the dirt, though, the washing process removes the egg's outer protective layer.
While it is true that eggs are cleaned before being packaged and sent to your grocery store, they are not bleached. In fact, most eggs start out white, but different breeds are genetically coded to release different colored pigments as the egg passes through the hen's oviduct.
The frequency of Salmonella-contaminated eggs in Australia is very low. Despite this, there is a potential risk of illness from consumption of raw or lightly-cooked eggs, or the consumption of uncooked foods containing raw egg.
Standard 4.2. 5 of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Food Standards Code) requires that all “egg products” are pasteurised. An “egg product” is defined in Standard 1.1. 1 as the contents of an egg in any form, including egg pulp, liquid egg white, and liquid egg yolk.
We aren't the only country who washes our eggs. Japan, Australia, and some Scandinavian countries also wash their eggs.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand's Response
The statement continues to say that refrigerating whole eggs is not required because: The Salmonella bacteria which can contaminate an egg while it's inside the bird isn't present in Australian eggs.
Even shells that appear clean can carry germs. Even so, eggs do not need to be washed.
Should you put eggs in the fridge? Eggs don't need to go in the fridge, but they'll last longer if they do. If they've been washed or refrigerated before (for instance, at the supermarket) then they should also go in your fridge at home.
According to eggs.org.au (best domain name ever), the cartons we see on the shelves of Australian supermarkets contain eggs that were laid up to 42 days ago. That's six weeks. All we have to go by, traditionally, is the 'use-by' date. Or the even more confusing 'best before'.
Australian farmed chickens, including organic chickens, are always treated with chlorine. With organic chickens, the final wash spray lasts for 3 to 4 seconds, where chlorine is added at a rate of 20 parts per million (p.p.m.). Then the birds are put on racks for draining and air-chilling.
Prompted by concerns about spoilage and foodborne illnesses, U.S. egg producers and processors began washing and refrigerating their eggs in the early 1970s. Other countries soon followed suit, and eggs are now washed and refrigerated in Canada, Japan, and Scandinavia.
A general rule, unwashed eggs will last around two weeks unrefrigerated and about three months or more in your refrigerator.
Woolworths has pledged to keep eggs in refrigerated cabinets as it continues a nation-wide revamp of its stores.
Most people will still put them in the fridge at home, but because in Germany and most of Europe eggs are not washed and sterilized, unlike in the US and Canada, whereby the protective layer on the outside can be damaged, eggs don't HAVE to be refrigerated so the store sells them on the shelf.
In Europe, farms vaccinate chickens against salmonella. That means the cuticle is still intact when eggs are sold. Refrigerating eggs with the cuticle intact could actually cause mildew to grow. Which could cause… you guessed it salmonella contamination.
Finland, Sweden, and Denmark all apply a zero-tolerance policy on salmonella, and Denmark has the world's strictest control measures in relation to salmonella. Therefore, at DAVA Foods we are proud that Danish eggs are among the world's safest eggs and we work daily to keep it that way.
The Europeans, on the other hand, don't wash their eggs in order to rely on this natural “cuticle” to protect from contamination entering the egg. Many European countries, like the UK, vaccinate their hens to prevent the transmission of salmonella when the hens lay eggs.
Australian Pasteurised Eggs 12 Cage Free Eggs Cage Free Eggs 660G | Woolworths.
There are three main egg farming systems used in Australia: free range, cage and barn-laid. Free range egg production has grown significantly over the last 15 years and now makes up 52% of all grocery retail sales.
Since the 1940s, it has been compulsory to pasteurise cow's milk in Australia. Pasteurisation involves heating milk for a short period of time. Usually milk is heated to 72 °C for 15 seconds.
Eggs that have been treated to destroy Salmonella–by in-shell pasteurization, for example–are not required to carry safe handling instructions, but the labeling will usually say that they have been treated.