This is how the story goes: In the UK, they don’t wash their eggs. So, the protective coating on the shell, the cuticle, is not removed. This means they don’t have to refrigerate their eggs. They will last much longer at room temperature. But, in the U.S. they wash their eggs and wash off the cuticle. No protection! This means they have to refrigerate their eggs to keep bacteria at bay. This is a MYTH. It is completely and utterly unfounded. The egg cuticle does not make an egg a hermetically sealed environment similar to a can of food. I call this the magical egg cuticle myth because those who believe it are engaging in “magical thinking.”
Salmonella In Eggs
Let’s look at salmonella. It is possible for an egg to be contaminated with salmonella. That is why we are advised to not eat raw eggs. An egg can be contaminated with salmonella in two ways:
1. While it is developing.
And egg can be contaminated with salmonella while it is still developing inside the hen. This is caused by direct contamination of the egg contents before oviposition and originates from infection of the reproductive organs. There are antimicrobial defense factors in the egg that the bacteria must survive, however, Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) can often survive and penetrate the yolk.
2. By Contamination of the shell and penetration into the egg
An egg can be contaminated when feces is deposited on the egg. Salmonella can also contact the shell while it is being laid when the bacteria is present in the hen’s vagina. The salmonella then gets into the egg by penetration through the eggshell and shell membranes.
Egg Barriers To Bacteria
An egg does possess barriers to bacterial contamination. One barrier is the oft-discussed cuticle. The cuticle is a hydrophobic protenacious layer that covers the eggshell and pore openings.
As well, the shell membranes, which consist of three different layers, also provide protection against bacteria entering the egg through the shell. If the egg is contaminated during development, these protections are for naught.
However, despite the egg’s defenses against bacterial penetration, including anti-microbial factors, research has shown that numerous bacteria, including Salmonella, can and do rapidly penetrate into eggs. The egg is especially vulnerable immediately after it is laid. This may be because for at least five minutes after it is laid, the cuticle is immature and some of the eggshell’s pores may be open.
In addition to other factors affecting bacteria penetration, older eggs are also more vulnerable as the egg becomes dehydrated, causing the cuticle to shrink and exposing pores to bacterial penetration.
Although there is still research to be done, it is not even clear that cuticle deposition plays a significant role in whether or not eggs become contaminated. Some research has found no relationship between cuticle deposition and bacterial contamination within the egg.
All this means that the cuticle does not protect an egg from bacterial contamination. So, those who believe that as long as the egg’s cuticle is intact, it is immune from Salmonella penetration and therefore is safe even if stored at room temperature, have been misinformed. In this case, refrigeration would be wise to slow down the growth of bacteria.
This is why we must look at the scientific evidence instead of mechanisms. The notion that not washing the eggs and thus leaving the cuticle intact makes an egg invulnerable relies solely on a mechanistic explanation that is disproven by direct evidence. 1Inne Gantois, Richard Ducatelle, Frank Pasmans, Freddy Haesebrouck, Richard Gast, Tom J. Humphrey, Filip Van Immerseel, Mechanisms of egg contamination by Salmonella Enteritidis, FEMS Microbiology Reviews, Volume 33, Issue 4, July 2009, Pages 718–738, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-6976.2008.00161.x
Egg Freshness and Refrigeration
All of this is to say nothing of egg aging. Eggs age and undergo changes despite whether or not they are contaminated. The cuticle in no way stops these changes from occuring. Again, direct evidence has shown that eggs stored at room temperature age seven times faster than eggs stored in the refrigerator.
The EU’s Egg Regulations are Wrong
In fact, the much-touted EU’s practice of not refrigerating eggs before sale to consumers has been questioned by researchers. Much of the rationale for these regulations depends on the idea that damp condensation is a huge hazard for eggs and is more important than precise temperature control. A paper called “Do raw eggs need to be refrigerated along the food chain?: Is the current EU regulation ensuring high-quality shell eggs for European consumers?” questions these regulations:
EC Regulation No. 589/2008 for egg handling contains a number of incongruities and incompleteness, which confuse the EU food chain operators and consumers. The major inconsistencies, challenged in this comment article, result from: (i) overemphasis on the possibility of eggshell condensation and Salmonella-related safety risks, while overlooking other substantial safety and quality hazards, and (ii) obscure or missing temperature and humidity control requirements, which inspires fear from chilled storage but tolerates handling at high temperatures.
According to this paper, the EU needs to reconsider and update its egg control regulation by “introducing temperature and humidity conditions correlated with resulting safety, quality and shelf life.”
These regulations completely over-emphasize the hazard of damp condensation on eggshells brought about by cold storage and ignore many other egg-safety hazards and quality control measures. The regulations cause Europeans to be fearful of refrigerating eggs, as evidenced in frequent social media protestations against the practice. Moreover, eggs are even downgraded to Class B if they are chilled, while the actual temperature control requirements are obscure and unspecified. 2Kostadin Fikiin, Stepan Akterian, Borislav Stankov, Do raw eggs need to be refrigerated along the food chain?: Is the current EU regulation ensuring high-quality shell eggs for the European consumers?, Trends in Food Science & Technology, Volume 100, 2020, Pages 359-362, ISSN 0924-2244, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2020.04.003.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924224420304325)
The EU’s egg-handling regulations are frankly, completely and utterly wrong. They will not and cannot guarantee egg safety and quality for the consumer. Those relying on an argument from authority, “the EU does this” should seek out the scientific evidence concerning egg handling and safety, including temperature regulation. All available evidence indicates that the U.S. regulations concerning the handling of eggs are superior to the practices of the EU, despite the “washing away of the cuticle.” This is not to say the U.S. practices are beyond reproach but they are certainly better than practices that fail to consider almost all the scientific evidence.
Indeed, the EU regulations rely on the type of magical thinking I brought up before. I’m not talking about supernatural beliefs, but illogical ones. The regulations rely on causal relationships between “damp condensation” and lack of egg safety when there is little evidence of a strong causal link between the two and, indeed, the regulations are not supported by evidence or rational analysis. I suspect that they have more to do with the late arrival of refrigerators and the prevalent small size of refrigerators in many European homes, than to science.
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