See that on your eggs? Better throw them out immediately
Food poisoning from a rotten egg is not pleasant. It is therefore worth knowing how to effectively avoid it. Certain signs - even before cracking the shell - can make you realize that you are dealing with a product that has already seen its best days. Unfortunately, you have to throw such eggs away.
Oct 3, 2023 | updated: 9:01 AM EDT, October 5, 2023
Eating spoiled eggs is not just a matter of terrible taste or ruining a whole meal, but also potential poisoning, which in the best case will only cause stomach discomfort and a rebellion in the toilet. The worse scenario implies ending up in the hospital with symptoms of poisoning by salmonella bacteria, which — contrary to popular myth — does not only occur on egg shells.
The ability to recognize rotten eggs is therefore a basic skill that everyone who occasionally makes scrambled eggs should know. Some symptoms can be seen just by the shell, without any need to crack it. Arm yourself with this knowledge and you will not be taken by surprise.
How to recognize a spoiled egg?
During shopping, we read labels — this is something we probably all know. After all, we have often witnessed situations where the information on the packaging was outrageously misleading, and a seemingly healthy product turned out to be a chemical junk of the worst kind.
And since we know this so well, let's also remember to check such a basic thing as the expiration date of the eggs we buy. Next, we proceed to open the carton and check the eggs with our own eyes. The following symptoms should set off a warning light:
- Stains and discolorations. They do not always signify staleness (sometimes, this is a result of the egg rotating slowly in the hen's oviduct), but it is worth being cautious in such cases.
- Thin shell. Healthy eggs have a hard and consistent shell which does not let as many microorganisms through as a thin shell does. Eggs with such a coating spoil much faster.
- Cracks. Eating an egg which had a cracked shell is essentially a gamble - it might work out, it might not. Unfortunately, the chances that the product is spoiled are significantly higher.
You will recognize the next signs of staleness after cracking the shells:
- Pink whites. This color is often caused by bacteria called blue pus. It's important to be able to differentiate this from the red spots in the yolk, which are harmless.
- Smell. Checking this always helps. Healthy eggs hardly give off any scent at all, and if they do, it's not irritating in any way.
- Whites and yolk "strangely" runny. The element that binds the white and the yolk in the egg is called chalaza — protein "strings". They should be relatively strong. However, if the white and the yolk do not really stick together, you should be worried.
