Fresh or foul? How to identify bad eggs
Over time, eggs can become bad despite being stored the right way.
SHAH ALAM - Cooking requires a set of skills and this includes identifying whether an egg is safe to consume or not.
This is because eggs, over time, can become bad despite being stored the right way, which is at 4°C or lower and in their original carton, to reduce water loss from the provision of the carton and flavours of other foods in the fridge absorbing into the eggs, reducing their quality.
This is due to carbon dioxide and moisture of the eggs have evaporated through the pores of the shell, replacing them with outside air inside the air cell of the eggs, causing the content to shrink as well, while being more vulnerable to bacteria and mould and eventually becoming unsafe to consume.
HOW TO KNOW THAT EGGS HAVE GONE BAD
1. Water test
Eggs can float because of their air pockets, where the bigger the air pockets, the lesser in quality the eggs are.
This means that by putting the egg you intend to cook in a bowl of water—sufficient to observe its range of floatiness—and seeing it float, the egg is already old and would not create the best omelette you think it could, though still safe to eat for the absence of any mould.
2. Visual test
You can always determine if an egg is bad by observing its shells. If their shells are cracked or have a powdery look to them, this might mean that the eggs have been vulnerable to bacterial invasion and mould where the safest option is to throw the eggs away.
While eggs are absent from cracks or powdery look, they still pose the same risk of not being safe to eat when their content is not fresh.
This includes having discolouration, such as a pink colour inside the content of the egg or a runny and extra slimy content, particularly the yolk, respectively, indicating that it has been infected with bacteria or is not of good quality.
3. Sniff test
While checking for the expiration date is the most common go-to, the sniff test is also one of the most commonly used procedures to determine if an egg is bad, where a weird odour indicates that it has gone bad.
You can either do this while they are still uncracked for cooking or after being cracked.
When there is a weird odour, the egg needs to be disposed of and not be consumed, while the plates used to do such a test, including the visual test, need to be washed thoroughly with soap so as not to leave any bacterial residue on the plates.
It is still important to be informed about the expiration date, which is usually overlooked once the carton is thrown away where the expiration date resides, which is the common case, where the popular belief is that eggs are still fresh 31 days after the expiration date, where expiry tests remain crucial and relevant.
