Is It Safe to Eat Expired Eggs? (2024)

FAQs

Is It Safe to Eat Expired Eggs? ›

How Eggs Are Dated. "Those expiration dates are on some egg cartons to make sure that retailers don't keep eggs on shelves past a certain date," Maloberti says. "However, eggs can be safely eaten two to three weeks past that date.

With proper storage, eggs typically stay fresh 3–5 weeks past the pack date — the date they were gathered, cleaned, and stored in refrigeration. After 5 weeks, your eggs might start to decline in freshness. They could lose flavor and color, and the texture might even be somewhat altered.

Even though refrigerated eggs stay fresh for several weeks beyond their sell-by or expiration date, they don't last forever. So use the surplus eggs for something practical, like whipping up a drool-worthy frittata for your next breakfast or baking a cake for your upcoming neighborhood potluck.

An egg can float in water when its air cell has enlarged sufficiently to keep it buoyant. This means the egg is old, but it may be perfectly safe to use. Crack the egg into a bowl and examine it for an off-odor or unusable appearance before deciding to use or discard it.

Simply fill a bowl with cold tap water and place your eggs in it. If they sink to the bottom and lay flat on one side, they are fresh and good to eat. A bad egg will float because of the large air cell that forms at its base. Any floating eggs should be thrown out.

The case for refrigeration, however, is bolstered by the fact that the shelf life of refrigerated eggs is around 45 days, whereas unrefrigerated eggs are good for only about 21 days.

The presence of bacteria inside an egg is what eventually causes it to “go bad,” or rot. However, keeping an egg at refrigerator temperatures (below 40°F, or 4°C) slows the growth of bacteria and helps prevent it from penetrating the shell ( 6 , 7 ).

The best before date indicates the time the eggs will maintain Grade A quality, if stored properly. It is normally 28 to 35 days from the date of packing. If you use them after that date, they are better for baking, hard boiling or scrambling rather than poaching or frying.

Proper storage of eggs can affect both quality and safety.

Use a refrigerator thermometer to check. Store eggs in their original carton and use them within 3 weeks for best quality. Use or eat hard-cooked eggs (in the shell or peeled) within 1 week after cooking. Use frozen eggs within 1 year.

If you're baking, older eggs are fine to use, unless you're whipping egg whites for volume for meringues, macarons, or soufflés; that's when a fresher egg—and “tight” vs. runny whites—are key, Makuch says. Older eggs are also good for scrambling, hard-boiling, or deviling, Makuch says.

When should you throw eggs away? ›

If the shell has a slimy or powdery texture and is cracked, or discolored, it is best to throw it out, as these may be signs of bacteria growth. Eggs that are cracked are exposed to bacteria and are dangerous to consume if they sit for a long time after being cracked.

Eggs may be refrigerated three to five weeks from the day they are placed in the refrigerator. The "Sell-By" date will usually expire during that length of time, but the eggs will be perfectly safe to use. Always purchase eggs before the "Sell-By" or EXP (expiration) date on the carton.

While each carton of eggs is marked with an expiration date, if properly stored at 40°F or lower, they should be safe to eat for longer—usually two to three weeks past the expiration date. If you need healthy recipes to use up the eggs in your refrigerator, try one of these delicious egg recipes.

Old eggs or rotten eggs are acceptable in composting programs - including your home compost pile. Contact your local recycling coordinator to find out whether your local transfer station offers municipal composting. Or consider starting your own home compost bin for your organic materials!

To perform the float test, gently set your egg into a bowl or bucket of water. If the egg sinks, it is fresh. If it tilts upwards or even floats, it is old. This is because as an egg ages, the small air pocket inside it grows larger as water is released and replaced by air.

The theory is that, as an egg ages, the air pocket inside it grows larger, buoying an old egg to the surface. But, according to Dr. Schaffner, “there is no scientific basis for the egg float test.” So experimenting to see if your egg sinks or swims is not a reliable way to measure its quality.

Eggs should be kept in a fridge as they need a constant temperature. The fridge is the only place in the kitchen that you can guarantee this. If you can maintain a constant temperature elsewhere in the kitchen then you could keep the eggs there.

The FDA recommends consuming hard-boiled eggs within a week, and two weeks is well past that deadline. Since spoiled hard-boiled eggs can make you sick, it's best to be safe and toss out any leftover hard-boiled eggs that have been in the fridge for more than one week.