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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To eat eggs which are six days out of date?

77 replies

BertieBotts · 12/01/2011 08:24

BF says I am and wants to send me to the shop for new ones. I say they are fine as I have tested them in a bowl of water where they stood on end, which I have always been told means they are fine although it's better if they are cooked through, and have always eaten eggs like this and never had one which was off. It's for scrambled egg so will be cooked through.

OP posts:

Original poster

BertieBotts · 12/01/2011 10:20

They were in the fridge, but I don't usually keep eggs in the fridge. Normally fine :)

OP posts:

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 12/01/2011 10:21

I've had this fight with dh and the dses over milk's use-by date. They will throw milk away as soon as it goes out of date, without giving it a single sniff first - and as we buy 4 pint containers of milk, this means a lot being discarded unneccessarily.

I wish I had a pound for every time I have told them to check it first and use it if it smells fresh, or told them that food never used to have dates on it at all, and we just had to use our common sense. I'd have several quid now, by jingo!

mariasmate · 12/01/2011 10:22

i eat loads of out of date stuff, only died twice so far, so not too bad

seriously though, if it looks ok and smells ok, i eat it - dont look at dates

midori1999 · 12/01/2011 10:22

You shouldn't keep eggs in the fridge as they do go off more quickly. However, 6 days past best before is nothing, I would eat them loads past that. (except we have our own hens/eggs now, so no best before dates to worry about)

My DH is obsessed by best before dates and frequently throws things out that are fine. I went to eat some left over home made Christmas pudding the other day to find he'd thrown it out! It made me cry! (pregnancy hormones I suspect)

KerryMumbles · 12/01/2011 10:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Takeresponsibility · 12/01/2011 10:58

"I clearly remember my mum cracking eggs one at a time into a cup and sniffing them before adding them to the cake mix, or whatever." OMG I still do that, and sniff the milk.

Scrambled eggs are fine for old eggs, but not cake or fried as the albumen will not be elastic and your whites and cakes will be flat.

Fridge: Eggs are fine in the fridge as long as you bring them up to room temp before using. The yolks of a soft boiled or fried egg will not have got hot enough to kill the bacteria when the whites are done if you cook them straight from fridge cold.

mrspercival · 12/01/2011 11:02

On best before dates I would use common sense etc and it would depend on the product tbh. With eggs I would not eat one past best before date - many years ago my friend ended up in hopsital with suspected meningitus, very very poorly indeed; ultimately they established he became ill with some major bacterial infection with a name i cant remember and it wasn't meningitus, and they established it was out of date eggs from his fridge. I agree that you can check if eggs float/sink etc and of course use your sense of smell.
Also OP - scrambled eggs vary and aren't necessarily cooked through eg lot less cooked than a hard boiled egg.
Final point - get a hen or two then you'll really know and appreciate what fresh eggs taste like!

mutznutz · 12/01/2011 11:05

I think I'd have a fight with my other half too if he wanted to send me to the shop...I'd make him go his chuffin self

NorwegianMoon · 12/01/2011 11:07

id never eat out of date eggs, i have no idea about food safety but the idea just seems wrong.

nickelbabysnatcher · 12/01/2011 11:12

you shouldn't store eggs in the fridge - the condensation takes off the special protective layer that the hen makes for the egg.

if you've ever seen an egg as it's been laid, you can see the protective layer as it dries.

you should break the egg to see if it's off - see other posters have said about it being old if it flaots, but not necessarily off.
It's only off is the air has gone inside and it blinking stinks when an egg is off!

I've only recently started buying eggs (inbetween chucks), and a couple of weeks ago we had fried eggs with eggs that were over a month out of date (forgot we had them)
they were stored in a dark, cool cupboard.

madonnawhore · 12/01/2011 11:15

They're not out of date, they're six days past their best before date, which is much more subjective.

If they sink in water, they're totally fine.

You'll soon know if an egg is off when you crack it anyway.

Greeninkmama · 12/01/2011 11:15

Eggs are the one food that you should not eat after the best-before date. The Food Standards Agency says this:

"The 'best before' dates are more about quality than safety, except for eggs. So when the date runs out it doesn't mean that the food will be harmful, but it might begin to lose its flavour and texture.

In the UK we end up throwing away 8.3 million tonnes of food and drink every year and most of this could have been eaten. So think carefully before throwing away food that is past its 'best before' date.

However, you shouldn't eat eggs after the 'best before' date. This is because eggs can contain salmonella bacteria, which could start to multiply after this date."

www.eatwell.gov.uk/foodlabels/labellingterms/bestbefore/

nickelbabysnatcher · 12/01/2011 11:16

and dates are arbitrary - food has to have a BB date by law - it is not actually when the food will go off.

Greeninkmama · 12/01/2011 11:17

... except for eggs, nickelbabysnatcher

nickelbabysnatcher · 12/01/2011 11:19

eggs shouldn't contain salmonella if the hens have been vaccinated against it, which they now have to be by law.

It's a very minute chance that they will be in the eggs.

Takeresponsibility · 12/01/2011 11:20

Grrr best before dates - water that has been in some lake fore thousands of years needs a best before date?????

nickelbabysnatcher · 12/01/2011 11:20

i did cross-post with you, but I still don't agree with that point.

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 12/01/2011 11:21

Greeninkmama - how did we manage before 'best before' dates on eggs? We used our common sense, and didn't all drop dead from salmonella.

nickelbabysnatcher · 12/01/2011 11:21

take - unless it's water that is filtered by rocks and sand, it'll need boiling or purifying

NigellaPleaseComeDineWithMe · 12/01/2011 11:22

The eggs if stored Ok will be fine.

nickelbabysnatcher · 12/01/2011 11:22

my hens don't lay eggs with BB dates on.

they've also been vaccinated against all prevalent diseases.

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 12/01/2011 11:24

It's also worth remembering that 'use-by' and 'best before' dates are going to be conservative - the manufacturers do this to give themselves a safety zone if things go off a bit faster than expected. Plus it is to their advantage if we throw away food that is OK to eat, because it will mean that we have to buy more, putting more profit in their pockets.

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 12/01/2011 11:24

Safety zone is not the right phrase - I couldn't think of how to say what I meant, but I have now - it's margin of error.

littone · 12/01/2011 11:27

"However, you shouldn't eat eggs after the 'best before' date. This is because eggs can contain salmonella bacteria, which could start to multiply after this date."

If this is the case why do eggs have a best before date and not a use by date?

nickelbabysnatcher · 12/01/2011 11:28

I think they do have a use by date.

I must check this....

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