How long do eggs stay good in the refrigerator?

Posted in Food & Recipes / Kitchen & Cooking Tips / Kitchen Gadgets & Tools

Egg Survival

It's important to get tips on how to protect yourself and your family from food-related illnesses. It's sometimes easy to determine when food in your refrigerator has gone bad. All you usually have to do is check for mold, or for a foul odor. But our SheKnows' editors have gone to the experts to bring you what you need to know about food safety.

carton of eggs

Question: How long can you keep eggs in the fridge?

Expert answer: We tell consumers to look to the egg carton dates to judge freshness. A couple of bits of info regarding the sell-by date: The USDA says that the date can be no further ahead than 30 days after the packing date. Your store can choose any day within that 30 days to date the eggs.

If you don't find a date on the carton, using the eggs within three weeks of the carton date should allow them to be used within optimum quality. By "optimum quality," we refer to the fact that the yolk will be high and upstanding, and the white will be tall and firm. As the membrane releases from the shell, the whites spread out, so you want to use fresh eggs for poaching and other recipes where shape is important, and save the older eggs for scrambled eggs and recipes that includes eggs.

Question: How can you tell when eggs have gone bad?

Expert answer: Eggs are one of the few animal foods that you can keep in your fridge and still be optimum quality. Eggs are unlikely to go bad in a refrigerator setting, but would dry up over time. Eggs don't automatically go bad or spoil after date.

If the eggs do not already have salmonella, it will not grow in an egg as it sits in your fridge. If it does contain salmonella, the number of bacteria will be quite small because it does not grow in cold environments, like a refrigerator, and with proper handling, cooking, and other food safety measures, the bacteria will be killed.

Comments

Comments on "How long do eggs stay good in the refrigerator?"

the easiest way to tell if an egg has gone bad is to put in a pot full of water. if it floats then it's bad (it's full of gas), if it goes straight to the bottom then it's still good.

I've used eggs that I've had in the fridge for 6 months! I wouldn't use them when shape is an issue, but they are fine in cakes or as they say here scrambled or whatnot.

I have a co worker who thought that the eggs were bad because she stated they turned brown. Do eggs that go bad turn brown?

my eggs are dated aug 6 2008 and its the 13th. they been in the fridge since then. are they still good

yeah question about this: I bought 2 dozen eggs the first week of July. The sell date says July 10th on one carton, July 18th on the other, and I've only gotten into a couple during that time. now that its August 9th, I am wondering, are the eggs still good? I was told, bad eggs will make a *swish wish* sound when you shake them. or will float to the top if put in cold water. My eggs don't make any sound and sink to the bottom, so does that mean there ok? seeing as how its been a month in the fridge, I am worried, for eggs don't have a smell of any kind, so hoe else do we know if there safe to eat? I don't care if they won't go sunny side up, but it would be nice to boil some. just in case, I bought some more today, a dozen, but a dozen will only last me a week normally. I don't know why I let these sit in there a whole month, being a single guy I jsut forgot they was in there is all. I mean, I am visually impaired / legally blind, and that is what concerns me, for I can't see mold or nothing like that. thanks

I have about 2 cups of egg whites that have been in the fridge for about a month. I am wondering if it is still save to ues in a home made angel food cake? thank you for you reply.