Eggs past “best before”

[dangermouseisace]

I got home to find my son has been baking buns, but the egg he used was a rogue one from an old box. Best before...10 days ago! (yes I should clean my fridge out more frequently). He said it smelled fine, and it's fine, he’ll test them on his sister . I'm inclined to think the buns will be inedible. What do others think?

Eggs generally last quite a long time after their use by date so don't worry.

Float test, and they’ll probably be ok

I make cakes for a living. I often find eggs near their use by date don’t make good cakes, even if they don’t smell suspect. They don’t rise properly. Especially COOP eggs, for some reason. Same way that milk close to its use by date doesn’t seem to make lattes quite as well.

I often use eggs that are weeks past their best before date, they taste fine and no ill effects.

@ButtockUp

Keeping eggs in the fridge increases the growth of bacteria. They should always be kept at room temperature. Eggs last longer than you think. If you're not sure , put them in a bowl of water. They'll stand upright if they're past their best.

How on earth would keeping an egg in the fridge increase the multiplication of bacteria?

The ability of bacteria to multiply at speed is dependent on food source (the egg) and the speed of chemical reactions (i.e. their ability to process the food source into new cell components). These reactions rely on catalysts but will happen much more slowly at lower temperatures where the components have less kinetic energy (due to being colder). That's why storing things in the fridge stops meat/milk etc going off?

I just can't think of a mechanism by which fridge storage would make eggs go off faster?

How have you got to adulthood and parenthood not knowing the float test?