• Gork@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    As an American, I cannot legally touch any egg that hasn’t been ultra-pasteurized followed by continuous cold chain refrigeration and served in either a Styrofoam or pulped paper cardboard egg carton.

  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    In the US, there’s a concern for salmonella or other bacteria and viruses. Factory egg farming is a horror show in regards to overcrowding and hygiene. Sick birds are crammed in with healthy laying birds, and washing the eggs is one of the safest ways to prevent contamination.

    It does increase the permeability of the shell, decreasing shelf life and requiring refrigeration.

    If your eggs looked like this in the USA, there’s a small but non-zero chance that you’ll shit yourself to death. Probably not, but it’s scary enough.

    We could improve factory farming regulations so it’s not a like a Cronenberg movie, but then eggs would be more expensive. And even if we did, and stopped washing our eggs, Americans would still want them to look clean and would still keep them in the fridge because we’ve been conditioned to expect to die on the toilet covered in wet feces if we see bird poop on the eggs.

    • echo64@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Fwiw, the eggs wouldn’t have to be more expensive, the eggs cost what the market will pay.

      The only change is that the people profiting from your poor food conditions will profit slightly less.

      This is a common lie they tell everyone.

      • ButtDrugs@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        They won’t profit less, line must go up. They’d charge double the difference and blame immigrants and Obama.

        • echo64@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          sure they could charge more, but the market wouldn’t swallow it so they would sell less. if they could charge more for eggs, they would be doing so right now, for extra profit.

          • Lemming6969@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            They would collude. All eggs would go up just like during covid, and they wouldn’t lose any sales.

            • echo64@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              If they could do that, they would do that right now. If they could charge more there’s nothing stopping them from doing that today. We are already at the maximum price they can charge.

    • Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
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      9 months ago

      Keeping unwashed eggs in the fridge at home helps them last longer, as long as you don’t leave them out to sweat.

      But yeah here in Sweden, we rarely ever get salmonella recalls since the chickens aren’t strapped to a box here.

    • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      If your eggs looked like this in the USA, there’s a small but non-zero chance that you’ll shit yourself to death. Probably not, but it’s scary enough.

      Unless you got it from your own chicken coop

    • buzziebee@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Chickens are vaccinated against salmonella (and a bunch of other things) when they are chicks in Europe. It means you don’t need to worry about shitting yourself to death, the chickens are slightly happier by not being sick, and your eggs stay fresher for longer.

      It would probably add $0.005 per egg, so US producers will claim it’s communism if a regulation is brought in to vaccinate chicken, but it would be worth doing.

      • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        You mean you put 5G tracking devices in your chickens?

        Really, though, getting poultry farmers to spend a penny per dozen eggs is like trying to squeeze water from a rock.

        • lad@programming.dev
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          9 months ago

          Yeah, it helps one find them if they run away

          They’ve made a documentary about it back in the day: chicken run (2000) movie screenshot

          • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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            9 months ago

            They recently made a new one with up-to-date info on the security of those chickens

      • ArtificialLink@lemy.lol
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        9 months ago

        Fuckin finally. The tryna high road the Europe and shit like they don’t have poor chicken treatment situations too. Its all down to vaccination requirements. They the treatment of chickens cause both places have issues lol

      • fidodo@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Refrigerating the eggs end to end costs money too, possibly more. I don’t think it’s about ongoing cost but rather upfront cost to switching.

    • BruceTwarzen@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      At what point do people not just think that maybe going vegan isn’t that bad of an alternative

      • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        But eggs are yummy. Baked goods, thickened sauces, omelettes and deviled eggs and egg salad, you can’t really replace them with vegan alternatives. Aquafaba is pretty close for some of it, but people like their eggs and don’t care about how much their food suffers before we eat it.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        It is way too challenging in my mind at least. I do one meat meal a week and veg the rest. All the fun stuff has milk and eggs in it.

        But hey you do it if it makes you happy.

  • fidodo@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    The biggest reason eggs are refrigerated in the US is because they’re not vaccinated for salmonella, so refrigeration is needed to inhibit growth. The US was able to do that since they have the infrastructure for end to end refrigeration. It’s not necessarily wrong, it’s just another way to do it. Since salmonella can also be on the outside of the egg they need to be washed, and since they’re refrigerated the loss of the protective layer doesn’t matter. I guess in Europe with the vaccination it also lowers the chance of salmonella on the outside of the egg allowing the outside to remain unwashed and protective of the inside making refrigeration unnecessary. There’s just not enough of a reason to change things in the us now since the refrigeration method is already in place and switching would cost more up front. The main downside is that you can’t eat raw eggs in the US which means some dishes can’t be made, but the vast majority of the US isn’t interested in raw egg dishes anyways.

  • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    This probably goes without saying to anyone who has chickens but a message to rest DO NOT WASH your eggs. It’s the stupidest thing you can do. When you wash them you remove protective layer and they can’t last long outside of refrigerator. Even in the fridge chances of getting Salmonella grows very fast.

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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    9 months ago

    Not Americans that are used to eating farm fresh eggs from the local farmers market. I lived in downtown Austin until recently and getting freshly picked produce from local and urban farms every Saturday was one of my favorite parts of my week.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I grew up raising chickens among other animals. Poop and feathers on eggs was the norm. This ‘50s processed white bread, white sugar, clean eggs, etc. that was the sign of “progress” I guess IMO has done more harm than good in some ways.

  • Crow@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    But my fridge has a little spot just for the eggs. They look so cozy there. I actually don’t know where I’d keep something as fragile as eggs outside my fridge in the kitchen. Genuine question where do you keep your eggs safe? Do they often break?

      • Crow@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Well no. I’m Canada we keep the anlpha egg of the dozen in the egg safe. It’s not large enough for a full carton of eggs.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          C’mon, you’re making Canada sound backwards like that. We have banks and they have safety deposit boxes large enough for several cartons of eggs.

          I also keep eggs hidden around the house in case I get a midnight craving for an omelette and don’t feel like doing a midnight heist on my own eggs. Though I do regret the ones I hid under the couch cushions.

      • lad@programming.dev
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        9 months ago

        It’s not that those are valuable, it’s that those are dangerous. Have you ever tried throwing one after getting it out of an egg safe where it was safely tucked away for the last decade?

    • Vash63@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      In a cupboard in their container? They don’t spontaneously combust, as long as they’re in the cardboard it’s pretty hard to accidentally break them.

      • BakerBagel@midwest.social
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        9 months ago

        I drop so much out of my cupboards resching for something else. I’ve dropped eggs before, and i would rather clean up a full sack of flour than half a dozen eggs.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Sounds like you might need to go through your things and ask if each brings you joy and get rid of whatever doesn’t.

          Does this egg bring me joy? Throws egg on floor, giggles yes it does. Makes note to replace egg

  • Aermis@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Am American living in the city with 8 chickens. The only scary thing is seeing eggs in the market go for $10/dozen

    • Vash63@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Wow, that’s crazy. It’s €4.49/10 here tax included for the fancy free range, low volume farm ones from a not-cheap supermarket.

      • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        9 months ago

        3.2USD here for a dozen cage-free brown eggs!

        My folks’ chickens’ eggs have orange-r yolks tho.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Miss living near the Amish. They have these cute big families with so many children and agricultural stuff for low prices. I would love to convince them to somehow some way homestead in my city.

        • Classy@sh.itjust.works
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          9 months ago

          Funny, as someone who works intimately with them I find myself distrusting them. They are great at putting on the “old timey, super genuine sweet Christian folk” persona but don’t get it wrong. Their ideology spreads like a cancer around here. They breed like crazy, buy up all the private land, displace other locals with their farms, eschew environmentally friendly agricultural practice to save money, their buggies destroy the roads and cause terrible fatal accidents. It’s not to say they’re all bad but they’re absolutely a highly insular cult and they have no problem turning on outsiders to further their society.

          • elephantium@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            buggies destroy the roads

            How? I’d always heard that heavier vehicles do more damage to roads, so I’d expect buggies to be on par with bicycles or maybe motorcycles.

            cause fatal accidents

            I’m curious about this one, too. Do they tend to drive erratically? I’d think their slower top speeds would make it easier to avoid accidents.

            • Classy@sh.itjust.works
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              9 months ago

              Many Amish churches ban rubber tires and the buggies will at best use hardwood wheels, and otherwise they’ll be steel. Weight is of some minor concern but more principally the hard materials as well as the shoed horses wear away at the road. In high density Amish areas it’s common to see two deep grooves in the road from buggies.

              Buggies are not designed for modern roads. They have very little safety features (in fact they only begrudgingly even put reflectors on them, and maybe occasionally flashers for at night), and their bulky, dense bodies and slow movement make them pretty devastating targets to hit. They don’t crumple like a modern car. They explode. Car-on-buggy accidents are very frequently fatal. I know plenty of Amish who have lost family to accidents at relatively slow speeds.

          • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            displace other locals with their farms, es

            Meh I am not sure how people stuck on old tech are so much better at farming that they can outcompete modern farms. How bad at your job can you be to have your ass handed to you by the 17th century?

            Kinda getting tired of the whole “my life sucks because I am lazy let me get angry at people who are actually successful”. Tall poppy syndrome is running rampant, especially in rural America. You can thank me for paying for your roads btw.

  • Schmoo@slrpnk.net
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    9 months ago

    Am american and this: eggs is what I have in my fridge right now. Rural living win.

      • wesley@yall.theatl.social
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        9 months ago

        I still put farm fresh eggs in my fridge because it’s just a lot more convenient to store eggs in the fridge than on my counter where I have more limited space

          • wesley@yall.theatl.social
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            9 months ago

            My fridge is designed to store food and has multiple shelves and drawers. My counters are a flat surface area and I’d rather keep them clear for active uses like cutting, prepping, etc.

            There are also appliances competing for space on the counter like coffee machines

            I guess there’s the pantry but it’s also just that I’m used to keeping them in the fridge and it’s not like it hurts them to go in the fridge.

            Anyway, point is it’s really not that weird to keep them in the fridge

          • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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            9 months ago

            If its anything like my counter then kinda, honestly ive knocked enough shit off the counter that its just easier to keep em in the fridge.

      • Schmoo@slrpnk.net
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        9 months ago

        Yeah I suppose I could store them at room temp, but I figure they last longer in the fridge and I’m not really hurting for space.

    • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      OP, that’s what it would’ve looked like. Your eggs been industrially washed. What a moron is that OP.

  • clif@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Can confirm. We (in US) have chickens and whenever we gift eggs to people they’re astounded that they don’t need to be refrigerated but also sometimes horrified that they aren’t washed.

    Granted, I keep the eggs that get poopy for myself so they don’t get tossed out by an overly cautious person. I just rinse them immediately before use if they’re very dirty. Occasionally one of the hens will have an “accident” and lay an egg in the dirt outside or on the coop floor. Otherwise they look generally like the pic above.

    I’ve yet to have a rotten egg and at times we’ve gotten behind by over a month… Still good, sitting on the counter for a month.

    Fun info, I’m currently eating through some “water glassed” eggs that I stored in May of 2023. Still good.

    • Mr_Blott@lemmy.worldOP
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      9 months ago

      I have looked up “water glassed eggs” and while it does look interesting as a scientific experiment, I’m reasonably certain that you’re a psychopath

      • Talaraine@kbin.social
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        9 months ago

        Hahah yeah water glassing is kind of a throwback that helps keep them even through temp variations. We did an experiment back when we had a homestead a few years ago, where we cleaned any nasties if there were any and then dipped the eggs in oil and kept them in a cool room.

        We came back every three months to try an egg. We ended the experiment at 2 years after which 25% of them began to float. The rest were still edible but the yolk wouldn’t stay together when cracked.

        • clif@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Yeah, at ~8 months these are about 50/50 on whether the yolks hold together. Still taste fine though.

          I decided to give it a try since in the spring/summer they were laying way more than we could keep up with … But mostly because I thought it was interesting and wanted to try it :D