Should backyard eggs be washed before storage and/or use, and why?

[Ken]

No they should not be washed.

Eggs are laid with a natural membrane that hardens around the shell and protects it. If you wash it in water you will be washing off this membrane which can allow impurities and bacteria like salmonella to absorb into the egg itself through osmosis. The fluid inside the egg (the yolk and egg white) has a higher concentration of particles than the water you are using to wash with so it will suck in water and potentially bacteria or other impurities through osmosis.

If the egg is dirty the recommendation is to wipe it off, not wash it in water.

The FDA requires commercially produced eggs to be washed. But they are washed using special disinfecting chemicals and so are both washed and sterilized in one process. Tap water with a little soap isn't the same thing as the disinfecting washes that commercial egg producers use.

[Ernie]

Due to the coating on eggs...

Washing eggs that you plan to incubate supposedly takes off a coating that protects the embryo from outside harmful matter.

If you want eggs to last the longest, I think refrigerating them unwashed and then washing before using them probably extends their shelf life the longest.

I think that washing them and/or not refrigerating them reduces their shelf life.

Why do you think not washing them extends shelf life?

My grandmother never washed them, she didn't refridgerate either. They sat out in the chicken coop in a gallon coffee tin straight through the Georgia summer. When she needed some, she walked out and brought them in.

Eggs have a certain shelf-life without being refrigerated. What I can't understand is why not washing them would extend that shelf life, which is what some people claim.

Washing them removes the natural coating from the egg allowing bacteria to enter the egg through the pores in the shell. A common method of washing really dirty eggs - soaking them first in water - provides an ideal environment for contaminated water to soak into the shell.

What he said...

[Josh]

I have heard many times that backyard eggs should not be washed before storing or even using them. I always find this pretty interesting, shall we say. We have backyard chickens and use a lot of eggs. I also sell backyard chicken eggs in my store. So, here this is a poll and discussion thread. Do you think that backyard eggs should be washed? Vote, and discuss why or why not.

Where I grew up eggs sat on the shelf and weren’t refrigerated. The protective coating was left on which repelled disease and rottenness.

If there was risk you would get eggshells in your food you could wash them right before using them. I prefer our own eggs to be washed simply to get dirt and faeces off of them. (The other day the chickens decided the cow’s hay bed was a great place to lay eggs.)

Edit: the commercial washes get thru the eggshell too, so when you eat American commercial eggs, you’re getting a little bit of disinfectant/chemicals in your diet. It is really interesting America is the only place that does this.