Quality of eggs

[yakamoza]

Am I the only person who thinks that something isn't quite right with comercially available eggs? I don't really know when I started noticing this but probably would be right to say it's been over a year. Wherever I buy eggs, they all seem a bit odd: all excessively runny and overcook easily in no time at all. I've tried all kinds of eggs: from the very cheap to the most expensive in pretty much all supermarkets near me and in my village butcher shop which gets it from local farms. They are still ALL the same.

I know that eggs that aren't fresh are more runny but they can't possibly all be not fresh week after week in every supermarket? Or can they? If so, why has this never been the case before? Has something generally happened to the commercially sold eggs or is it just me?

The eggs I buy from the supermarket are produced locally to me. They are usually ok.

Honestly I have not noticed this at all and I go through a fair few eggs. We have eggs for breakfast at least once a week and I use them quite a bit in other meals and in baking.

All my eggs come from the supermarket, usually Sainsbury's. The only difference I have noticed in recent weeks is that they now often have white shells whereas they were always brown shelled before that.

We usually buy eggs from our local farm shop but occasionally I get supermarket eggs. The farm shop ones are fresher and nicer but I haven’t had any problems with the supermarket ones.

You need to find somewhere with local, really fresh eggs. I am lucky as my convenience store is supplied by a local farm. So the eggs are fresh. I don't buy supermarket eggs anymore, the quality is just so poor.

Is it because the poor hens are being cooped up due to bird flu?

I buy organic eggs from pastured chickens at a local farm. They’re a lot more expensive but never noticed what you’re describing. We get through a lot of eggs, 24-30 a week usually so quality is important.

It’ll be to do with all sorts of things, the age of the eggs, the way the chickens are kept and the feed they are given. If they are allowed to free roam or not. It all affects the eggs. I have backyard chickens and the eggs are very different to supermarket bought ones.

OMG! People refuse to buy white shelled eggs. They are exactly the same as brown eggs. In fact all eggs before WW2 were white shelled. It's the breed of the hen that determines the colour of the egg shell - there is a hen that lays powder blue eggs.
Taste, NVs, colour of yolk are the same.

Yes I'm quite old - not as old as pre war! -and when I was young virtually all the eggs were white. Occasionally there would be a brown one in the box and that was always an object of interest.
Then there was a stage where there was an option to buy a box of white or a box of brown.

My aunt has a couple of hens who lay blue eggs! They are definitely a conversation starter.

Oh I have nothing at all against white eggs. When I was a child we kept hens and the eggs would be a variety of colours.

It's just unusual these days to find anything but brown ones in the supermarket

We buy supermarket eggs - Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose. They’ve all been fine.

I only buy bog standard supermarket free range eggs. I get them from Asda, Tesco and Ocado. I haven't noticed anything odd at all.

I've got blue ones in Tesco before.

Often it’s just to do with the chickens’ diet and the season / availability of light and access to sun. We keep pet ducks and their eggs do change throughout the year and depending on what they’re foraging. They tend to be paler and more watery in winter.

I have chickens so I can have proper free range eggs - the quality of their eggs is completely different to supermarket eggs.