Egg

Hi, I heard newly in Iran that it's not true to wash eggs for saving them and we must wash them just time we want to break and use them!
I want to know if in all over the world such as japan, this object is common?
Is it true that washing them cause to penetrate microbes into it?
thanks for your attention.

I cannot speak for typical Japanese poultry practices, however washing eggs at the farm or poultry plant is very essential in removing fecal material, debris and bacteria from the
laying process. The inside of the egg remains clean regardless, however the chance of contamination from the outside to the handler or consumer is much lessened by washing. Washing does not weaken the shell and increase
intrusion from the outside.
I was a US Army Food Inspector, stationed in Yokohama and have inspected 600 k dozen eggs.
Just think where the egg comes from..washing eggs is good.

hi, I'm JAPANESE and I read the website of Japan Egg Association.
So, this is about eggs sold in Japan.

http://www.nichirankyo.or.jp/qa/hinshitsu.htm#tag13

This page is written in Japanese, so you might not be able to understand it.
I'll summarize the page.

Japanese eggs are washed with hot water by a special washing machine under specially clean environment before shipping.
So, you don't have to wash them for saving.
Moreover, if you wash them at home (without specially clean environment), it may cause opposite effect. It means, as you mentioned, washing eggs causes to penetrate microbes into them.

When you save eggs in the fridge, it's better to place the round side up so that they can breathe.
bye!

thank you very much.

Unfortunately, In Iran, eggs are not washing before shipping, and saving them without washing in fridge is unacceptable for me because of ...!!

So, I think its better to pack them in fridge without washing! Is it right?

I believe in your case it would be best to wash the eggs as soon as you receive them, let them dry a few minutes and then put them in the refrigerator. Also you should transfer them to a clean, covered container, and not the one it was shipped in. In many places that is a cardboard container especially for eggs.
If they are not washed before shipping then the container also might be unclean and spread any possible bacteria to other food.
Other poster is right too. Round end up, small end down. Good luck in Iran.

thanks a lot for all answers.

There is an interesting article here called "Why American Eggs Would Be Illegal In A British Supermarket, And Vice Versa"
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2012/10/25/why-american-eggs...

We have our own chickens in the backyard so we get fresh eggs every day. I have always been taught not to wash the eggs or get them wet. It is interesting that the USA, and by the sounds of things Japan, has a different approach to egg handling.

I'd be interested to hear Peter's comments on the article.

I read the article with intrest. I don't disagree with any of the facts presented.
There is perhaps a cultural thing going on here as well. I wouldn't go so far as to say that there is an obsession with cleanliness, on the part of Americans but perhaps its getting there. We are warned to wipe down shopping cart handles in supermarkets. So perhaps its an issue of over caution. But I cannot fault the current practice of washing eggs before shipping. Perhaps there is a piece of mind thing at play here also, and to err on the side of public health, is perhaps not a bad thing. Is it unnecessary ?
I don't think so. Is it duplicative, perhaps.
I have thought I would love to raise my own chickens too, and some friends here have done that. Where i live [in New Hampshire US] there are foxes, that, dispite the best protection, houses, fences, will and do wipe out flocks. Its somewhat hard to finantially justify when eggs are .99 c at the store. But there is no doubt at all, fresh eggs are the best.

Thanks for your thoughts Peter! I assume you are the same Peter that posts in the Yokohama Navy Exchange thread? I enjoy reading all of your collective stories there.

We don't have too many foxes around here but we do have some large snakes and pythons so we have to snake-proof our coops pretty well! Our chickens free-range during the day but we lock them up in their coop every evening to protect them.

And yes, it is hard to beat fresh eggs! (No pun intended!)

Yes, I am the same poster..guilty!
I am glad that you enjoy the other thread, its a lot of fun.

Snakes ? Pythons ? If you have palm trees there also, you could be my new best friend.
Your not in some warm tropical place are you ?
OK make me jealous.[ the snow piles here are "down " to 6 feet.]

I have seen your "handle" come up occasionally. I had thought that you are on staff of jp but i guess not.

Re the egg "thing". I have a confession.
I went to a vocational Agricultural high school. I had a class in poultry, which, as it turned out, was the only class that I ever flunked ! Seems the class was trying to cover college level genetics, and everyone flunked except one person who later turned out to be a PHd in genetics.The instructor, Mr Metcalf, when on to develop his own strain of chicken.

I thought my parents would ground me but they couldn't stop laughing that i had flunked poultry. I never lived it down either. I got "clucked" at for the next 30 years. Who me baggage..nah..

Yes, I am the same poster..guilty!
I am glad that you enjoy the other thread, its a lot of fun.

It is very interesting for people like me to hear what Japan was like through your eyes back then.

Snakes ? Pythons ? If you have palm trees there also, you could be my new best friend.

Palm trees? We have too many palm trees! They are nice but not when you have to clean away so many falling palm fronds that's for sure! We have quite a lot of tall palm trees in our yard, some well over 30 feet.

Your not in some warm tropical place are you ?

Yes, and summer here is just finishing too.

OK make me jealous.[ the snow piles here are "down " to 6 feet.]

http://www.visitgoldcoast.com/places-to-see/

I have seen your "handle" come up occasionally. I had thought that you are on staff of jp but i guess not.

That must mean I post too often! No, I'm not on staff, but I do post a lot sometimes.

Re the egg "thing". I have a confession.
... I thought my parents would ground me but they couldn't stop laughing that i had flunked poultry. I never lived it down either. I got "clucked" at for the next 30 years. Who me baggage..nah..

That's a pretty funny story! Especially since you went on and did some egg inspecting after that, too.

We have a few different breeds of chickens at home, not ones bred just for laying. We have some Light Sussex, Barnevelder, Araucana, Australorp, Plymouth Rock, and a couple of Pekins too. The little blue/green eggs from the Araucana are pretty cool.

Following a hunch, I believe you are in Queensland. Sounds nice but can be hot.

The US Army "trys" to match civilian skills with Army ones, but does not always succeed.
I ran into a guy driving a truck who had a masters in physics. Go figure. there must be a website for this kind of stuff. The best one I heard of was when they asked if anyone could read a map. this ex-boyscout piped up that he could read a map,[with a compass ect] They put him in charge of the "maproom"
covering all of central europe. And had him re-catalogue it, starting from scratch. I know hard to believe. Im not sure i do.

As i indicated, they asked in my outfit who could inspect eggs. Well all of us had been trained [to a certain degree] but happy me,
I opened my big mouth. Actually it was ok duty. they put me in a basement, and over the next few months i was the egg, inspector.
Doing as i have said, three hundred thousand dozen. [give or take]. The side effect was that I spent a whole summer underground and in the dark, while my mates were getting all tanned on the Yokohama docks. So I was while as a sheet. curiously the Japanese girls seemed to love the untanned white skin. And even remarked how "pretty" it was. a throwback perhaps. Not that it helped me in the girlfriend department..i was married.

Egg inspection can be quite different from egg production. I was "candling" back then.

I love palm trees !! Hmmm didn't know about the clean up.

Perhaps i should sign up as a "real" member of jp guide, its only been like 8 years.

Oh, forgot to mention. In a small way I am in the "egg" business. Our pet cockatoo Molly, lays two eggs a year, just after the sun gets longer here. No we don't eat them. I extract the yolk and dry them out for the curio cabinet. She an umbrella, very cuddley and spoiled. I suspect you are familiar with cockatoos.

Following a hunch, I believe you are in Queensland. Sounds nice but can be hot.

Correct! Although not too hot here, but it depends what you are used to I guess.

The US Army "trys" to match civilian skills with Army ones, but does not always succeed.
I ran into a guy driving a truck who had a masters in physics. Go figure. there must be a website for this kind of stuff.

I enjoyed your Army matching stories!

I love palm trees !! Hmmm didn't know about the clean up.

You don't want to be standing under them when one of the fronds fall that's for sure.

Perhaps i should sign up as a "real" member of jp guide, its only been like 8 years.

There's no need to rush these things.

Oh, forgot to mention. In a small way I am in the "egg" business. Our pet cockatoo Molly, lays two eggs a year, just after the sun gets longer here.

A pet cockatoo? What sort of cockatoo? We have plenty of wild ones that hang around the backyard, although they are mostly sulphur-crested cockatoos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulphur-crested_Cockatoo

G'day mate. [Americans love that]
Our pet cockatoo Molly is an umbrella. She is
hand raised and very sweet, that is when she is not niping or squalking. When its warm enough we go for walks [i walk she rides]. I do her toes and feathers, and most of the other veterinary work, she doesn't need much. She doesn't fly as she was never "taught", and otherwise is very cautious as she walks around the house. We have our 10 second rule. She is never out of sight for more than 10 seconds as she would chomp on electric cords. We change into 'bird shirts" when we want to sit with her as she chomps them too. She gives kisses and that other goofy stuff.
Molly came from the SPCA as a rescue. I was working there as an Animal Cruelty Investigator.
Cockatoos are very rare here, none in the wild of course, and very few as pets. When they are available they run about $ 2000 US.
They do live a long time so thats a plus.
I see Queensland is a huge area, are you north or south ?
I suspect you have seen the great barrier reef? I wonder if its as beautiful as we are led to believe.
Where did you come up with GC3?

G'day mate. [Americans love that]

G'day mate!

(Indeed they do, I got that a lot when I was last in the USA!)

Our pet cockatoo Molly is an umbrella. She is hand raised and very sweet, that is when she is not niping or squalking.

She sounds very cool, and looks pretty close to the Sulphur-Crested ones we have here.

I see Queensland is a huge area, are you north or south ?

Southeast. We are around 900km (550 miles) north of Sydney, and around 900km (550 miles) south of the Whitsunday Islands which are a common gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, although the reef itself is something like 1900km (1200 miles) long.

I suspect you have seen the great barrier reef? I wonder if its as beautiful as we are led to believe.

Yes, a few times, it is pretty amazing especially when snorkelling or diving.

Where did you come up with GC3?

Pretty boring. GC was the nickname of a restaurant I used to go to, and GC must have been taken so I put a number on the end.

Gday Mate

Thanks for the geographic update. Your area sounds beautiful. And nice of you to put it in "miles'. I would love to visit Australia and NZ
sometime, especially after Hobbit ect..me and a million others.

Yes our umbrella is very much like the sulfer crested. But i can't speak for behaviour as i have no reference. Again there rare here. I sense they might even be pests there.


It sounds like you travel a lot Japan and US
where in the states have you been ?

GC3 thanks for that i was wondering. It is gender neutral.
We do have a time differential don't we.

G'day!

Thanks for the geographic update. Your area sounds beautiful. And nice of you to put it in "miles'.

It is very nice, and yes I was being nice to those still using imperial.

I would love to visit Australia and NZ
sometime, especially after Hobbit ect..me and a million others.

Yes, The Hobbit has done a lot for New Zealand tourism I think. I have not seen any of the south island so NZ is on my todo list as well.

Yes our umbrella is very much like the sulfer crested. But i can't speak for behaviour as i have no reference. Again there rare here. I sense they might even be pests there.

Yes, cockatoos can be considered a pest by some.

It sounds like you travel a lot Japan and US where in the states have you been ?

I haven't been to the US for a couple of years but have been to LA, San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Fransisco, Detroit, Sandusky (Ohio), Miami/South Beach, New York and Boston, which is probably the closest to where you are I guess.

GC3 thanks for that i was wondering. It is gender neutral.

I'm a bloke.

We do have a time differential don't we.

Yes, I'm fifteen hours ahead of you.

If I fly from here to Los Angeles I arrive three hours before I leave!

G day bloke
[is that ok?]
whats a female bloke ? a blokette ?

You really get around ! Sandusky Ohio, Ah, one of Americas must see destinations.
Yes, we are north of Boston. About 35 mi. [Imperial miles] does that make me an imperialist? Fortunately, I don't have to go to Boston that often. Except for a rare meeting. Then we plan to arrive and then leave
either before or after rush hour. Boston is an old town and the streets were former cowpaths, or so im told. and driving in New York City is out of the question.
We are expecting another huge snowstorm tomorrow, and tonight coming home we ran into the star chamber effect, it was not fun.
Tonight I am going to finally join JP members. So if its ok, you may hear from me.
Shrimps on the barbee.!!. oh..I forgot..its under 3 feet of snow. Damn..

We are way to much into this Crockodile Dundee thing.