Are “Fresh Local Eggs” Safe?

[jazz4cash]

I decided to start a new thread rather than pollute the Hard Boiled Egg thread with this question for the forum eggsperts.

We prefer jumbo brown eggs from the Amish market, but I am experimenting with other options including pricey cage free eggs from the grocery store. The cage free taste about the same as regular grocery store eggs.
There are 3-4 farm properties nearby with handmade signs reading “Fresh Local Eggs For Sale”. I’ve been tempted but never purchased from these places. I’ve never even gone down the driveway for a closer look. How do I know if these eggs are safe to eat? .

 

[joeea]

There are 3-4 farm properties nearby with handmade signs reading “Fresh Local Eggs For Sale”. I’ve been tempted but never purchased from these places. I’ve never even gone down the driveway for a closer look. How do I know if these eggs are safe to eat? .

Ultimately you don't know if any food you eat is safe.

But we've been eating local fresh eggs for most of our lives without a problem.

Make sure you cook them appropriately after washing the shells and you should have no worries.

 

[VanWinkle]

It is the lettuce you have to watch out for...... I think fresh local eggs are great- wash and cook properly per joeea's post and you will be fine.

 

[Choices]

I get fresh eggs from my son’s side yard. I know they are humanely raised. No one has died or gotten sick.
You can always “ float test” to see if eggs are fresh. Fresh eggs do not float. We would toss the floaters and the “ bobbers”.
In addition, We try to grow as much of our veg as possible. I do not care to consume pesticides.
Going back to our old hippie roots��

 

[MRG]

Local eggs are great! They may be fertile but that's generally not an issue.

We raised fancy chickens for years. Folks love the fresh eggs.

 

[brewer12345]

Yes, they are safe. Cook them appropriately and you'll be fine. A couple times a year we will even pull some eggs out of.the quail pen and use them raw in sushi.

I find this question to be a sad commentary about how far we have been divorced from where our food comes from.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

Try some and I'll bet you won't buy eggs in a store again.

One suggestion, crack each one in a cup first, then add to the main pan, that way if you do get a bad one it won't ruin the whole batch. I do this with ALL eggs, even the store bought ones. I grew up on a farm and the generation before me would sell eggs to the local grocery store for credit at the store. Cream too.

I remember they talked about "candling" the eggs before they could be sold in the store. I think it was a primitive way of x-raying them to see if they were oK inside.

Enjoy your eggs, I wish I had a neighbor nearby who sold them.

 

[Big_Hitter]

yes

 

[ivinsfan]

Was in London renting a condo for a week during a big family event. Picked up some breakfast food. Was befuddled when I couldn't find a carton of eggs.

They were on the lower shelf of a bread display not refrigerated,it felt funny to buy and eat room temp eggs. We did put them in the fridge at the condo.

 

[MRG]

Try some and I'll bet you won't buy eggs in a store again.

One suggestion, crack each one in a cup first, then add to the main pan, that way if you do get a bad one it won't ruin the whole batch. I do this with ALL eggs, even the store bought ones. I grew up on a farm and the generation before me would sell eggs to the local grocery store for credit at the store. Cream too.

I remember they talked about "candling" the eggs before they could be sold in the store. I think it was a primitive way of x-raying them to see if they were oK inside.

Enjoy your eggs, I wish I had a neighbor nearby who sold them.

+1 on the separate bowl.

Candling, hold the egg up to a light source, is a great way to look for developing embryos in fertile eggs. You'll see a little spot inside the shell. Of course fetching them every day does pretty much the same.

 

[Nemo2]

We have a couple/few farms we pass by infrequently, that sell 'help yourself fresh eggs'; they're not close enough that it's viable to make deliberate visits, but if we know we'll be in the vicinity we always grab some eggs on the way home, (and/or throw the cooler in the trunk).

We also save (store bought) egg cartons to drop off at the farms when we make a purchase.

 

[audreyh1]

Was in London renting a condo for a week during a big family event. Picked up some breakfast food. Was befuddled when I couldn't find a carton of eggs.

They were on the lower shelf of a bread display not refrigerated,it felt funny to buy and eat room temp eggs. We did put them in the fridge at the condo.

They don't refrigerate eggs in Europe.

Apparently in the US we wash the eggs, and that removes a protective coating. So they have to be refrigerated. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesal...-chills-its-eggs-and-most-of-the-world-doesnt

 

[ivinsfan]

They don't refrigerate eggs in Europe.

Apparently in the US we wash the eggs, and that removes a protective coating. So they have to be refrigerated. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesal...-chills-its-eggs-and-most-of-the-world-doesnt

Yes I did google that and I wonder why our commercial eggs can't follow the same guidelines, think of all the water and power we would save.

 

[Chuckanut]

There is a lot of funny information out there in regards to chickens and eggs.

I have bought the cage free, wander in the pen eggs at my local supermarket. As far as I can tell they are only more expensive. Perhaps the eggs sold by an Amish type farmer are different.

I do find all the stuff regarding how chickens are fed to be rather strange, especially the claims that 'free range' chickens are only eating organic vegetarian feed. Since when are chickens vegetarians? The ones I saw as a kid ate a lot of bugs. I doubt if the bugs were organic and they certainly were not vegetables. How do they keep the bugs away from the free range chickens?

Egg yolks can be made to be much more orange by putting a coloring in the feed.

adding marigolds to regular chicken feed can make their chickens and eggs appear like the healthier true pastured poultry. No doubt they might be slightly better than typical battery caged hens’ eggs, but not as healthy as pastured hens’ eggs.

I also was amazed to see eggs sold in Europe were not refrigerated. But, now I know why. Thanks.

 

[nash031]

There is a lot of funny information out there in regards to chickens and eggs.

I have bought the cage free, wander in the pen eggs at my local supermarket. As far as I can tell they are only more expensive. Perhaps the eggs sold by an Amish type farmer are different.

I do find all the stuff regarding how chickens are fed to be rather strange, especially the claims that 'free range' chickens are only eating organic vegetarian feed. Since when are chickens vegetarians? The ones I saw as a kid ate a lot of bugs. I doubt if the bugs were organic and they certainly were not vegetables. How do they keep the bugs away from the free range chickens?

Here's another thing we do with our eggs that others don't:

I also was amazed to see eggs sold in Europe were not refrigerated. But, now I know why. Thanks.

I think with cage-free you are just paying for more humane treatment of the chicken. The feed isn't different, and the lifestyle still isn't "natural". If you're looking for improved nutrition, it's "free-range" or "pasture raised", both on a natural diet with insects, etc., which are better as you said. They're even more expensive, but you can actually see the difference in the yolk. But yes, "Veg-a-fed" is a marketing gimmick.


I've used fresh local farmer's market eggs before without any issue.

 

[samclem]

The "cage free" claim doesn't tell us much as far as the humane treatment of the chickens, they can still be packed into small areas without access to sunlight, and can peck/injure each other a lot.
The "certified humane" label ("CH" on the package) is what I look for as providing at least some indication that the birds got okay treatment. The eggs are pricier, but on the whole eggs are still a bargain. I wouldn't think buying a "local egg" would tell me anything about how the hen was treated.

 

[MRG]

Yes I did google that and I wonder why our commercial eggs can't follow the same guidelines, think of all the water and power we would save.

Yes but someone might find a little piece of waste on the shell and OMG! That chicken egg is poisoned and they sold it too me! It hurts nothing, bush it off, folks seldom eat the shell.

 

[6miths]

Eggs must be close to the perfect food. Not a big egg eater but have them every day when traveling off the beaten track in Africa so I would suspect that your local eggs are fine.

 

[DayDreaming]

I've been buying eggs from someone just down the street from me for years. I like that I can see the chickens, talk to the farmer, and I'm confident that these animals are treated much more humanely than factory-farmed chickens are, even if those eggs are labeled 'cage free'. That's kind of important to me.

 

[W2R]

Yes I did google that and I wonder why our commercial eggs can't follow the same guidelines, think of all the water and power we would save.

Back around 1980 I was living in the San Diego area, down by the border - - so close that at night I could see the lights of Tijuana from my front door. Most of our neighbors spoke Spanish and we were the oddballs.

The local grocery store in that neighborhood was not a chain store, and it never refrigerated the eggs. Instead the store kept them in one of those "end-of-the-aisle displays. I was initially appalled, but then decided "hey, when in Rome, do as the Romans do" and bought them anyway. I never had the slightest problem with them.

That said, I keep my eggs in my refrigerator, out of habit. Really I wouldn't know where else to keep them in my house.

 

[ransil]

I gonna guess cage free is no in a little cage but a chicken coop is Ok?
my neighbor has chickens and if left out overnight would not last 30 minutes after dark.
I just loaned him my game camera to see what was trying to break in and it was like 5 coons and possums all night long, hawks have taken a few during the day.
coop is 2 levels with nesting boxes with an outside area.


eggs are good fresh, even better cause they are almost free.

 

[Aerides]

The typical US store is going to have farm eggs that have been washed, which removes a protective membrane, and therefore requires the eggs be refrigerated. That's the "USDA" way. Most other countries don't wash eggs before maybe actually right when they go to use them.

 

[Cessna152]

Before buying eggs from neighbor’s chickens, I like to interview the chickens first to get a sense on whether they are safe to eat. You know, ask what they eat, hobbies they have, whether they feel hen-pecked, why they cross roads - those sorts of things.

 

[Nemo2]

Before buying eggs from neighbor’s chickens, I like to interview the chickens first to get a sense on whether they are safe to eat. You know, ask what they eat, hobbies they have, whether they feel hen-pecked, why they cross roads - those sorts of things.

And if they hope for World Peace?

 

[davebarnes]

No!
Look at the French.
Dying by the thousands from eating unrefrigerated, local eggs.