Simply fill a bowl with cold tap water and place your eggs in it. If they sink to the bottom and lay flat on one side, they are fresh and good to eat. A bad egg will float because of the large air cell that forms at its base.
If the eggs sink to the bottom and lay flat on their side, they're still fresh. However, if they sink, but stand on one end at the bottom of the glass or bowl, they're not as fresh but still edible. Of course, if any eggs float to the top, they shouldn't be eaten.
If an egg sinks to the bottom of a bowl of water and lies sideways, it is very fresh; if it stands on one end in bottom of the bowl, it is less fresh but still good to eat. But if it floats to the surface of the water, indicating that air has permeated the shell, it is no longer fresh.
The water test for egg freshness
First, fill a bowl or glass with about four inches of cold water and gently place your egg(s) inside. Very fresh eggs will sink to the bottom and lay on their sides. If an egg stays at the bottom but stands on its small end, it's still acceptable to eat; just not quite as fresh.
An egg can float in water when its air cell has enlarged sufficiently to keep it buoyant. This means the egg is old, but it may be perfectly safe to use. Crack the egg into a bowl and examine it for an off-odor or unusable appearance before deciding to use or discard it.
In short, you can eat eggs two months out of date. It'll be fine. If you eat an outright bad egg, that's a different story. Eggs pretty exclusively spoil from contamination, and the signs and symptoms are pretty clear if you consume an egg that's been harboring salmonella.
As long are they are kept refrigerated at 45 °F or lower, fresh shell eggs are safe to be consumed four to five weeks beyond the carton's Julian date (the date eggs were packed).
Information. Eggs may be refrigerated three to five weeks from the day they are placed in the refrigerator. The "Sell-By" date will usually expire during that length of time, but the eggs will be perfectly safe to use. Always purchase eggs before the "Sell-By" or EXP (expiration) date on the carton.
Old eggs should always be disposed of responsibly to avoid contamination and food-borne illnesses. You can choose to compost, feed them to animals, recycle them at local centers, or throw them in the trash. Eggs with foul odors or discoloration may be spoiled and should not be eaten.
Place the egg in a glass of water. Fresh eggs will sink to the bottom, while bad eggs will float. (And should be thrown out.)
As a result, if you choose to use eggs after the best before date has past, make sure that they look and smell normal (odourless), and use in baking or other dishes where they will be thoroughly cooked. Throw away any eggs that smell rotten or bad upon cracking the shell.
You'll be happy to know that date isn't ironclad. “As long as the egg hasn't gone bad, there's no reason you can't still enjoy it,” says nutritionist Keri Gans, RD, author of The Small Change Diet. That's right: You do not have to trash that carton of eggs just because it's past the sell-by date.
You can store fresh shell eggs in their cartons in the refrigerator for four to five weeks beyond this date. Plants not under USDA inspection are governed by the state laws where the eggs are packed and/or sold. Most states require a pack date.
Here's What Fresh Eggs Daily Tells Us:
By law, an egg can be sold for up to 30 days after the date it was put in the carton. And farmers have up to 30 days to go from when the egg is laid to the carton. That means those supermarket eggs can be two months old by the time you buy them.
If that's the case, then why are eggs not stored in fridges at the supermarket? Well, there's a simple explanation for that. It's apparently because store temperatures are kept below 20ºC, so refrigeration is unnecessary. 'This also prevents significant temperature fluctuations.
You can eat eggs past their expiration date. Just be sure to keep your eggs egg-cellent by storing them correctly. If you don't know if an egg is good or not, you can try the float test or give it a whiff. If it doesn't pass the test, throw it away.
You can give your baby the entire egg (yolk and white), if your pediatrician recommends it. Around 6 months, puree or mash one hard-boiled or scrambled egg and serve it to your baby. For a more liquid consistency, add breast milk or water. Around 8 months, scrambled egg pieces are a fantastic finger food.
What happens if you use old eggs. If you use older eggs, the cakes will not rise as well and pavlovas will be flatter than they should be. Generally, the cakes will still work as long as you get some volume from beating, they just won't be as tall or light-as-air as they should be.
If it stands straight up but still sinks to the bottom, it's losing some freshness but won't make you sick. However, if the egg floats, it has gone bad and should be discarded. Eggs that are "expired" might stay fresh for a few weeks after their date, but if an egg is spoiled, it should not be eaten.
This is because the egg white or “albumen” in a fresh egg has a relatively low pH level, making it acidic. When cooked, these fresh egg whites bond strongly to the inner shell's membrane. As an egg ages, the pH level rises and the inner membrane is less likely to bond to the albumen, so the shell peels off much easier.
A slimy or chalky shell can indicate bacteria or mold growth, while a brown shell is a sign of spoilage. If any of these signs are present, toss the egg to be safe. And as stated, a foul odor is also a sign of rottenness, so you should discard the hard-boiled egg to avoid getting sick.
But what is the ideal expiry date for eggs? “The shelf life of an unrefrigerated egg is 7 to 10 days and for refrigerated egg it's about 30 to 45 days,” notes Dr Batra. But that doesn't mean you can pop a 2-month old egg for a quick omelet. - Eggs can last for about 5-6 weeks if refrigerated properly.
Here's the bad news: Salmonella is only detectable under a microscope, so the average person has no way to know if their egg is infected. “Just because the egg looks and smells okay doesn't mean that salmonella is absent,” Dr. Schaffner warns.