When you need a quick yet tasty breakfast or lunch, you can’t go wrong with eggs. Whether fried, scrambled, boiled or poached, they are a failsafe option, with so many different things you can pair them with.
However, when it comes to storing your eggs, it turns out a lot of us are getting it wrong. The weather in the UK has been pretty hot recently, which can wreak havoc on the food in our kitchen and make it go bad a lot quicker. And A new study by Currys has revealed that 43 percent of UK residents are storing their eggs incorrectly, with over a quarter keeping them on the countertop, and 16 percent in a cupboard – despite official guidance saying otherwise.
According to the Food Standards Agency, eggs should be stored “in a cool, dry place, ideally in the fridge and kept apart from other foods”.
With temperatures rising in summer months, improper storage can increase the risk of foodborne illnesses, as bacteria form more quickly in warm conditions. This is also echoed by the British Egg Information Service too.
However, it seems like Reddit users have different opinions on whether it is right or not to keep eggs in the fridge in spite of FSA guidelines.
In an AskUK subreddit thread on the topic, one user said: “Where do you pick up eggs in the shop? They’re not refrigerated there so you don’t need to refrigerate them at home.”
Another said: “Even in the really hot heatwave type weather… I don’t remember ever popping eggs in the fridge at home.”
According to the experts, there are several reasons why the fridge is the best place for your eggs.
One of these is reduced odour absorption. Eggs are porous, so can absorb odours from other foods. If you treat the middle shelf of your fridge as a neutral zone, you reduce the risk of unplant flavours going into your eggs.
Eggs also benefit from a controlled humidity environment, and the middle shelf is usually better at maintaining the ideal moisture level than other areas in the fridge.
Finally, your fridge has the most consistent temperature of anywhere in the house. Eggs should be kept on the middle shelf of the fridge as this tends to stay at the most level temperature compared to other areas, especially the fridge door or near the freezer.
Temperature fluctuations can have a serious impact on the quality and freshness of your eggs. Although they are “on the shelf” in supermarkets, the shops tend to have a cooler, more ambient temperature thanks to air conditioning which many British homes lack.
