A question we are asked quite frequently is, "Are eggs really bad when they go past the date on the package?" The short answer is "Probably not." Read on for the long answer.
Chickens normally lay an egg about every other day. They will sit on 6-12 eggs at a time for 21 days to hatch them. If a hen were to sit on the eggs from the day they are laid until they hatch it would take 10 to 14 days to hatch them all out and the older chicks would starve to death before momma could get off the nest long enough for the babies to get food. So God designed eggs to last a long, long time. He also put a special coating on them to keep them fresh. Hens will lay in the same spot for several days until they've got enough eggs to make it worthwhile for them to sit on them.
Because of this, if you don't wash eggs, you can actually keep them at room temperature for at least 10 days and they will still be good.
In this country, we are overly concerned about sanitation so eggs are washed and then put in refrigerators. Even then, if properly stored, they can last up to 6 months in "A" quality condition.
Chickens don't lay consistently. During the spring, they might lay one egg every day, but during heat waves and during colder winter months, they might lay an egg every 3-7 days. Many will quit laying altogether for that time period.
Big egg companies take advantage of the longevity of egg quality by stock piling eggs when they are plentiful and then selling them on a first laid, first out basis. The typical egg found in the supermarket store is one to five months old when it gets on the store shelf.
To find out if an egg is good enough to sell, egg producers "candle" the eggs. When you shine a bright light through an egg, you can "see" what's inside it. Try this yourself. Take an egg and a flash light to a dark room. Put the flash light right up to the egg. The egg shell will appear translucent. In this way you can see if an egg has cracks in it and check it for freshness. The Colorado Department of Agriculture has a good picture of how to "grade" for freshness. It's about half way down the page. Click here to see it. Most of the time you can see if it has blood spots or other abnormalities as well.
The day the eggs are packed into the carton, the eggs are candled. The "sell by" date is 30 days from then, not 30 days from the day that the egg was laid. It may be up to 6 months old. If it is in "A" quality condition, it should be good for at least 30 days if it is kept refrigerated between 33 and 45 degrees. If the egg had been laid recently when you buy it from the store, it might actually still be good 5 or 6 months from then.
If your eggs are past their sell by date, you can easily tell if they are good or not by putting them in a bowl of cold water. A good egg will sink to the bottom, an old egg will float on the top. One that sinks, but not all the way to the bottom will probably still be usable for baking, but use your common sense. If it smells when you crack it open, or it looks funny, throw it out. Better safe than sorry!
We don't have the refrigeration necessary to hold eggs for long periods of time, so our eggs are usually less than a week old when we candle them. We have held them for longer on occasion, but a month has been the maximum. This is the reason you can't always find them in the stores. We run out when the hens aren't laying as much.
Hope this helps!
God Bless You All!
~Grama Sue
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