Handle Eggs Properly For Maximum Quality and Safety

Canada has one of the safest egg supplies in the world. The Canadian egg industry follows strict procedures and standards to ensure only the highest quality eggs reach your business. It is extremely rare that there is a food safety concern with eggs but, like other perishable foods, eggs need to be handled properly and refrigerated constantly.

Purchasing Guidelines

• Use an egg supplier who practices a disciplined, safe food handling programme such as HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points).
• Purchase only clean, uncracked Grade A shell eggs that have been refrigerated at all times.
• Purchase only the quantity of fresh shell eggs needed for one or two weeks.
• Purchase eggs that are packed in snug-fitting crates or boxes to keep breakage to a minimum. Eggs are generally packed in boxes of 15 dozen.
• Consider egg size in relation to use and price. Compare prices for different sizes of eggs.
• Check the quality of eggs delivered to you. Inspect the shells and break a few randomly to make sure they meet the quality standards for Grade A eggs.
• Do not accept eggs that have become frozen, since frozen whole eggs will not have the cooking qualities of a Grade A egg.

Handling Guidelines

Food preparation workers should follow these simple steps to make sure the eggs they are preparing are safe to eat.

1. Follow an approved sanitation programme whenever food is prepared and don’t compromise it by taking short cuts.
2. Wash your hands with hot, soapy water every time food is prepared.
3. Use only sanitized utensils, equipment and work areas even if they have just been used for another food.
4. Wash and sanitize utensils used for eggs before reusing, even if for another egg dish.
5.  Never mix any shell with raw eggs.
6. Use only clean uncracked eggs.
7. Don’t wash eggs before using them – this is done for you ahead of purchase.

Cooking Guidelines

Food preparation workers should follow the easy lessons below to make sure eggs are safe to eat.

1. Clean – Wash hands, utensils, cutting boards and work surfaces often. Proper hand washing may eliminate nearly half of all cases of food-borne illness.
2. Chill – Refrigerate/freeze food promptly. Cold temperatures can prevent the growth of most types of harmful bacteria. Keep your refrigerator at 40°F (4.4°C) or below to keep bacteria from growing and chill leftovers within 2 hours.
3. Separate – Don’t cross-contaminate. Keep raw meat/poultry/seafood and their juices separate from one another and other food like eggs during storage and preparation.
4. Cook – Cook meat, poultry and eggs to proper temperatures. Thorough cooking is an important step in making sure eggs are safe.

Other Steps to Ensure Safe Preparation and Cooking

• Serve eggs and food prepared using eggs immediately after cooking, or refrigerate and use within three to four days.
• Serve all egg dishes within two hours of cooking.
• Cold egg dishes should be kept on ice.
• If a recipe calls for eggs at room temperature, immerse them in warm water for a few minutes.
• To prevent toughness, always use moderate heat and controlled cooking times for eggs.
• Don’t eat cracked eggs or eggs that have been out of the refrigerator for more than two hours.
• For egg-containing dishes such as sauces and casseroles, cook until the centre of the mixture reaches 160°F (71°C).

How to Tell if Eggs are Fresh

The easiest way to tell if your eggs are fresh is by the Best Before Date on your egg carton, so it’s best to always keep your eggs stored in their original carton. Here are a few more simple ways to determine the freshness of your eggs: 

1. A fresh egg will sink in water while an older egg will float. As an egg ages, the size of the air cell inside increases, causing it to float.
2. In a fresh egg, the yolk sits up high, and the white is thick and closely surrounds the yolk. An older egg has a flat yolk that breaks easily and a thin, watery white.
3. To differentiate between hard-cooked eggs and raw eggs, simply spin them. A hard-cooked egg will spin longer than a raw egg. The liquid centre in a raw egg prevents it from building up enough momentum to keep turning.
4. A cloudy egg white is a sign of freshness, not age. The cloudiness is the result of the high carbon dioxide content when the egg is laid.

General Preparation Guidelines for Egg Dishes

1. Keep eggs refrigerated until required.
2. When ready to use, remove from refrigeration only those eggs that will be used within 1-2 hours. Do not store eggs beside the grill, range or any source of heat.
3. Separate egg shells from their contents with care and immediately discard the egg shells.
4. Do not thaw frozen eggs or egg products at room temperature. Thaw only in the refrigerator.
5. Use defrosted eggs promptly. Refrigerate any unused portions and use within 3 days. (For more recommended usage times, click here.)
6. Use reconstituted eggs immediately or refrigerate and use within one hour.
7. Whenever possible, cook eggs individually and refrigerate or in small batches and serve immediately.
8. If egg dishes must be prepared in advance, hold cold egg dishes below 40°F (4.4°C). Hot egg dishes must be held above 140°F (60°C) on appropriate equipment until served or refrigerated immediately and brought down to a temperature of 40F (4.4°C) or below within 4 hours. Hot egg dishes that have been refrigerated should be reheated at 165°F (74°C).
9. Cook scrambled eggs in small batches of no more than 3 litres until no liquid egg is visible.
10. Start fresh with a new steam table pan for each batch of eggs. Never add freshly cooked eggs to leftover eggs on the steam table.
11. Partly cooked dishes (scrambled eggs, omelettes, soufflés etc.) should be cooked and served immediately. Mixtures used for these items should be kept refrigerated and the smallest practical batch size should be used.
12. Always keep egg salad refrigerated. Mayonnaise based salads provide an ideal medium for bacterial growth. Keep ingredients for egg salad refrigerated until preparation time.
13. For egg cooking, a good rule of thumb is that whole eggs should be cooked until the white and yolk are completely set.

Storage Guidelines

• Always store eggs in the refrigerator at 40°F (4.4°C) or below. Eggs should not be stored near the refrigerator door, but in the main body of the refrigerator to ensure that they keep a consistent and cool temperature.
• Store in the original carton which protects the eggs to minimize breakage, loss of moisture and prevents them from absorbing strong odours and flavours of other foods in the fridge through the thousands of tiny pores in the egg shell.
• Keep eggs away from foods such as onions, cabbage, apples, citrus fruits and cheese to prevent flavour transfer.
• Eggs should always be stored with the large end up, the same way they are packaged in the carton. This helps the yolk remain centered.
• Leftover raw egg whites and yolks should be put in airtight containers and stored in the refrigerator immediately for up to three days. To prevent yolks from drying out, cover them with a little cold water. Drain the water before using.
• When storing hard-cooked eggs, you may notice a “gassy” odour in the refrigerator. The odour is caused by hydrogen sulphide, which forms when eggs are cooked. It’s harmless and usually dissipates in a few hours. They can be refrigerated in or out of the shell for up to one week.
• Stock rotation: first in, first out; use before best before date.

Recommended storage times for eggs

Type of egg	Use by
Fresh shell eggs	By Best Before date
Leftover yolks or whites	Within 2-4 days
Hard-cooked eggs	Within 1 week
Prepared egg dishes	Within 3-4 days
Pickled eggs	Within 1 month
Frozen whole eggs (blended)	Within 4 months