The fear of bad eggs runs deep. As a kid you were prob told, “Don’t lick the spoon, you’ll getsick!” But can you eat an expired egg? Show
We’re here to unscramble the myth that you can’t eat expired eggs. Here are the deets, plus tips on safe storage, how to test for freshness, and ways to spot a bad egg. Generally, you shouldn’t eat food that’s past its expiration date. But eggs are one egg-ception. They can last for weeks past their sell-by date if you store them the right way. How long do eggs last?Store-bought refrigerated eggs can last several weeks if you transport and store them correctly. It’s important to keep them cold once you bring them home — below 40°F (4°C), to be eggs-act, according to the FDA. You should also store them in the back of the fridge, where the temp is more consistent. A 2011 research review suggested that steady temperatures may help eggs’ natural defenses fight off Salmonella bacteria. Pro tip: Keep your eggs in their original storage container. The carton can protect the eggs from absorbing nearby odors. (Because no one wants an omelette that tastes like an old tomato — trust us 🤮.) Most nonrefrigerated eggs will start to drop in quality after a week. And eating expired eggs starts to get really risky after 21 days, according to a 2007 study. If you’ve cooked your eggs, avoid leaving out cooked eggs for more than 2 hours. A popular way to check if an eggo is good-o is the float test. As an egg ages, moisture leaves through the shell. Air then steps in to fill the void. This makes the egg float (wheeeeeeee!!). It isn’t always accurate. According to the USDA, an egg can still be unsafe to eat even if it sinks to the bottom of the bowl. But it’s definitely gone bad if it rises. Here’s how you do it:
Or you could just try meowing at it and see how far you get. This method is better, though. First things first, always check the expiration date on the carton. Eggs are totes fine to eat before the time period after that expiration date. You can even eat them afterward if you’ve followed the steps for safe storage. Here are some other ways to put your egg to the test:
You can also try the sniff test. An odorless egg is prime breakfast sammie material. But one that smells like low tide on a summer’s day is a no-go. Next time your parents say your partner seems like a “bad egg,” check your boo’s jacket for slimy or powdery patches. The main risk of eating raw or bad eggs is food poisoning, specifically salmonella. According to a 2009 research review, Salmonella bacteria can grow inside the yolk, egg white, and shell of an egg. Salmonella can cause unpleasant symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention like:
Let’s avoid those shenanigans, shall we? Here’s a helpful table to make sure your eggs are safe to eat. You can eat eggs past their expiration date. Just be sure to keep your eggs egg-cellent by storing them correctly. If you don’t know if an egg is good or not, you can try the float test or give it a whiff. If it doesn’t pass the test, throw it away. Keeping eggs at the back of the fridge is a great way to keep them fresh for a while. Check out our guide on how to hack your fridge and maintain peak freshness. A lot of people rely on the date on the packaging to tell them when food has gone bad, even with eggs, but the sell-by dates are often somewhat arbitrary and are not expiration dates. If you've been tossing your eggs based on the dates on your carton—you could be wasting perfectly good food. Eggs are often still good to eat long after the date on the packaging says to throw them out. If you want to test how fresh they are before finding out
the hard way, here are a few methods for testing them. Your eyes and nose are the best tools for determining freshness with meats, produce and herbs — it's pretty obvious when something's moldy or smelly. But you can't smell and see an egg before you crack it (unless you're highly skilled), so how do you tell if it's still good? The Best Method for Uncracked Eggs: The Float TestJust fill a bowl with cold water and place your eggs in the bowl. If they sink to the bottom and lay flat on their sides, they're very fresh. If they're a few weeks old but still good to eat, they'll stand on one end at the bottom of the bowl. If they float to the surface, they're no longer fresh enough to eat. While you could fry or scramble an egg that's on its side or standing upright, when it comes to hard-boiling, you'll want the upright ones, as Yumi points out in her guide to peeling hard-boiled eggs. The extra air in the older eggs will help the peel come off easier after hard boiling.  Below, you can see what a really old egg looks like in comparison to really fresh one. The one on the left is most likely 3 or more months old (from when it was laid, not the date you bought them). To give you an idea of hold old an egg is, look at the "packed by" dates on the carton, which are in Julian date form by the "sell by" dates. Julian dates range from 1 to 365 days, and since most companies pack their eggs shortly after being laid, it's a good indicator. Why the Float Test Works So WellThe reason this method works is that the eggshells are porous, which means they allow some air to get through. Fresh eggs have less air in them, so they sink to the bottom. But older eggs have had more time for the air to penetrate the shells, so they're more buoyant and will float. Other Ways to Test Uncracked EggsSome people also claim you can hold an egg up to your ear and shake it to test for freshness. If you can hear liquid sloshing sound inside the egg, it's probably gone bad, but if you hear nothing, it's fine to eat. Personally, though, I don't think this method is as reliable. Additionally, there is the candling method, which is used primarily for testing egg quality before they're sold, but it could help determine freshness too, though it's more difficult to see at later stages. You can put a flashlight right next to the eggshell to light up the insides, but historically, a piece of cardboard with a small hole in it was used, with a light source behind it and the egg in front. The above method will let you see the air space and mold, but it's really a difficult technique to get down. Above you can see a fresh egg (little air space, slightly visible yolk), a slightly old egg (larger air space, slightly darker yolk), a nearly bad egg (really dark yolk, spotty), and a spoiled egg (mixed in yolk, lots of dark), lit up using the candling technique. If you want to see inside your eggs more often, try out this LED egg candle light — it's made to check if an egg is fertilized if you're into that. The Best Method for Cracked Eggs: The Plate & Sniff TestIf you don't need the shell intact, you can also crack the egg onto a plate or other flat surface to test how fresh it is. If it's fresh, the yolk should be bright yellow or orange, and the white shouldn't spread much. If you're not sure, give it a good sniff: fresh eggs shouldn't have much of a smell at all. The yolk will be flatter and the white will be much runnier in an older egg. An egg that spreads out when cracked isn't necessarily bad, though, just older (and again, good for hard-boiled eggs). If it's gone bad, you probably won't even need to do the sniff test—even slightly rotten eggs will have a very strong, distinct smell you'll notice right away. What to Do with Eggs That Expire SoonGot a bunch of eggs that are going to go bad before you can use them? Hard-boil them and throw them in a jar with a beet brine to make tangy, delicious, and beautifully purple pickled eggs. Looking for more eggy tips? Learn everything you need to know about cooking eggs from The Ultimate Guide To Cooking Eggs, by D and P Gramp. There are also lots of things you can do with those discarded eggshells, like make your teapot super clean, fertilize soil, and make sidewalk chalk. And don't forget about those leftover egg cartons, which make good seed and fire starters, bird feeders, and candle-making molds. Do you know of any other ways to test whether or not an egg is good to eat? Share your method with us in the comments. Want to master Microsoft Excel and take your work-from-home job prospects to the next level? Jump-start your career with our Premium A-to-Z Microsoft Excel Training Bundle from the new Gadget Hacks Shop and get lifetime access to more than 40 hours of Basic to Advanced instruction on functions, formula, tools, and more. Buy Now (97% off) > Other worthwhile deals to check out:
What happens if you eat stale eggs?If a person has any doubt about whether an egg has gone bad, they should throw it out. The main risk of eating bad eggs is Salmonella infection, which can cause diarrhea, vomiting, and fever.
Can you get sick from a stale egg?As eggs go bad, they develop other types of bacteria like E. Coli that lead to severe illness. If an egg is bad, symptoms of illness appear within six to 48 hours and may include: Diarrhea.
Can you cook with a stale egg?Regardless of what that date actually is, the optimal storage time for raw eggs in their shells, according to the USDA, is three to five weeks. So, if you've noticed your eggs are three weeks past their expiration date, you're technically good to go.
Is it OK to eat 1 month old eggs?According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, eggs can be sold for up to 30 days after they were packaged. So when your eggs' expiration date has passed, they could be two months old—and still more than likely safe to eat.
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Are stale eggs safe to eat
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